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THE PRESIDENCY 


OF THE 




UNITED STATES. 




rUBLISHED BY DERICK VAK VEGHTEN, FOR THE PROPRIETOR. 


J. & J. Harper, Printers. 


1825. 








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DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, To wit; 

B e it remembered, That on the twenty-first day of May, in the year 
of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-five, and of the Indepen* 
j^ dence of the United States of America, the forty-ninth, Levi S. Burr, of the said 
district, hath deposited in the office of the Clerk of the District Court, for the Dis¬ 
trict of Columbia, the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as proprietor, 
in the following words, to wit; 

“ The Presidency of the United States. By A. B. Woodward.” 


In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, entitled “An 
Act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, 
and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein 
mentioned.” And also to the Act, entitled “ An Act, supplementary to an 
Act, entitled An Act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies 
of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the authors and propiietors of such copies, during 
the times therein mentioned, and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of de¬ 
signing, engraving, and etching liistorical and other Prints.” 


L.S, 


IN TESTIMONY IVHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand, and 
affixed the public seal of my office, the day and year aforesaid. 

EDM. I. LEE, 

’ Clej'k of the District Court for the District of Columbict, 





THE first President—The Confederation—General Hamilton—Organization 
the federal admiriaUation—Harmony prevails—The institution of the cabi¬ 
net s^ - tem—Exclusion of the Vice President—Causes of parties—Germ of the 
first parties—The French Revolution—Parties become embittered—The moral 
source of dissensions—Intrigue defined—Thomas Jefferson—Opposite views 
of Mr. Jefferson and General Hamilton—Mr. Jefferson insidiously assailed— 
The administration dissolved—A new cabinet—Illusions of foreign ministers— 
Gradually dissipated—Occasional arrogance—Mr. Fauchet—Implicates Mr. 
Randolph—His despatches intercepted—Mr, Randolph supplanted—Vindicates 
himself—His vindication reveals the unconstitutional operation of the cabinet 
system—A new cabinet formed, from which the south is excluded—Assails Mr. 
Monroe—His transactions in France—Vigour of American diplomacy—Giddi¬ 
ness of the French People—Mr. Monroe falls under the cabinet—Mr. Adams— 
Is elected the second president—Is fettered by the cabinet—Bursts the fetters— 
The case of Fries—Contrasted with that of the Earl of Strafford—Extraordi¬ 
nary confession of the Britannic King—The cabinet endeavour to force the 
President into a war—The President breaks the cabinet—Triumph of the cabi¬ 
net over the President—The third President—Supposed to be adverse to the 
construction of the office—But gives it a firm practical support—The cabinet 
system nearly expires—But is revived and continued—Evils of the cabinet 
system—Difficulty in selecting the successor of a President—Contest of the 
heads of departments for the succession—Exclusion of the pretensions of 
others—Perversion of official patronage—Ungenerous opposition—The election 
of President the sport of contingency—Evils of an election by the House of 
Representatives—Evils of sporatic elections—A secretaryship to the Presiden¬ 
cy wanted—The unjust disfranchisement of the metropolis—The corruption of 
the Legislature—Legislator under executive influence—Legislator attempting 
to control the executive—Legislative bargaining—Executive infraction of the 
constitution—Household establishment of the President under the confedera¬ 
tion—Amendment of the Constitution necessary—Executive power to institute 
commissions of investigation desirable—The etiquette of the Presidential 
office requires reform—Presidential contests endanger the Union—The office of 
Vice President requires reform—Incongruities of qualification to advise—An 
appropriate department for interior concerns—Neglect of subordinate concerns 
—Impossibility of independent counsel—Fatal unconstitutionality of the cabi¬ 
net system—The Remedies adverted to. 





ON THK 


PREjSID .NCY 


OF THE 



ADDRESSED TO THE INDIVIDUAL CITIZEN. 


THE FIRST PRESIDENT. 

The selection of the first President of the United States of 
America was peculiarl)^ happ) . 

Virtuous, wise, accomplished, great in the field, great in 
council, enjoying high renown, and universal respect and at¬ 
tachment. Washington has not only given immortality to 
his name, but has conferred permanent benefits on his country, 
and on mankind. History will delight to dwell on the quali¬ 
ties of this estimable man ; and the youthful mind, in all suc¬ 
ceeding ages, will refer to him as a model of what is good, 
and what is grand, in the character of a human being. 

Habits of circumspection, thoughtfulness, and delibt ration, 
a serene temper, a sound judgment, a deportment marked with 
candour and sincerity, and undeviating probity, an astiduous 
industry, a love of, and an attention to, good counsel, and a 
firmness of resolution united with a benevolence of heart, 
qualified him, not only to repulse the power and the tyranny 
of Britain, and the pride, insolence, ano corruption of France; 
but eminently to advai-.ce the domestic welfare of the inter¬ 
esting and amiable family of citizens, composing the North 
American republic. 

It does not appear from the correspondence of General 
Washington, that any very definite plan of administration was 
settled, anterior to the counting of the votes for the Presi- 
deocy. A veteran of the revolution was the messenger of 
the result; nor does it appear that, on the journey from Mount 



6 


Vernon to New-York, he was accompanied by any confideii- 
lial adviser. On his arrival, however, at New-York, he found 
himself in the bosom of old and tried friends ; some remain¬ 
ing in the functions of the old government, and many return¬ 
ed, from all quarters of the Unirni, to the two houses that 
composed the first illustrious federal Congress. Some, even, 
were congregated, who were in private capacities. 

THE CONFEDERATION. 

At the head of the old government stood Cyrus Griffin, 
who had been elected President of Congress, on the twelfth 
day of July, 1788. 

John Jay was officiating in the department of Foreign Af¬ 
fairs, and delivered one of the early messages of the Presi¬ 
dent of the United States to Congress. 

The Department of Finance was in commission ; and Wal¬ 
ter Livingston, Samuel Osgood, and Arthur Lee, were the 
incumbents. 

In this government, some attention will perhaps long be ap¬ 
plied to a sort of geographical equity in the distribution of the 
honours and of the emoluments of the nation. Certain it is, 
that this principle had not been disregarded in the construc¬ 
tion of the Board of Finance, under the confederation. Os¬ 
good was selected from the Eastern, Livingston from the 
Middle, and Lee from the Southern, States. 

Henry Knox was at the head of the Department of War. 

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were our Foreign Mi¬ 
nisters, at the Courts of Great Britain and France, respect¬ 
ively, under the confederation, but the former, elected the first 
Vice-President under the new form of government, was now 
in America, and at his post. 

Charles Thompson was the Secretary of Congress, William 
Duer, Secretary of the Board of Treasury, and Joseph Nourse 
Register of that Department. ’ 

GENERAL HAMILTON. 

Alexander Hamilton, who had distinguished himself at the 
dawn of the revolution, as an efficient advocate of American 
rights; who had borne arms in their defence ; who had act- 
<3d, for four years, in the military family of General Wash- 


Higton, with an increase of distinction and renown ; who 
achieved a brilliant military exploit at the capture of Lord 
Cornwallis ; whose fame as an orator in Congress, in the 
grand convention of 1787, and in the State convention of New 
York, w’as of the first lustre ; and who had, recently, proved 
himself one of the most profound and able writers of the 
western hemisphere, in the composition of the Federalist; on 
whom all eyes were directed ; and whose career of glory it 
was evident to all, was not yet closed ; was now again at the 
side of his illustrious friend. Near him, also, were George 
Clinton, Aaron Burr, and Elbridge Gerry, subsequent Vice- 
Presidents, and James Madison, a subsequent President of the 
United States, and many other distinguished characters of the 
revolution. 

ORGANIZATION OF THE FEDERAL ADMINISTRATION. 

In these interesting circumstances, Washington organi¬ 
zed his administration. All was quiet and all was peace. 

The battle between the Federalists and the Antifederalists 
had been fought, and the victory acquiesced in. Feuds, dis¬ 
sensions, and virulent party-spirit, had yet to receive their 
new-birth. 

It required the characteristic prudence and discrimination 
of Washington, from these splendid materials to construct 
his ministry, and to give impetus to the new Constitution. 

Although the third day of March, 1789, was assigned for 
the termination of the government under the confederation, 
it yet continued in partial operation for a period of five months 
longer. The true date of the expiration of the government 
of the confederation, is the third day of August, 1789. 

In the British government, the fiscal concerns of the na¬ 
tion engross such paramount attention, that the head of that 
department is regarded as the Prime Minister. 

President Washington selected Colonel Hamilton as the 
head of the Financial Department, in the new American ad¬ 
ministration. The Department of Foreign Affairs, tempo¬ 
rarily revived in the new government, was converted into the 
Department of State; and Mr. Jefferson w^as called to its 


b 


iunctions. General Knox was appointed Secretary of War, 
and Edmund Randolph Attorney General. 

Of the officers of the former government, three only, in ad¬ 
dition to such as have been alread}? named, are recollected 
to have received immediate appointments in the new admi¬ 
nistration. Mr. Jay was made Chief Justice of the United 
States, Colonel Duer Under Secretary of the Treasury, an 
office since extinct, and Mr. Nourse Register of the Trea¬ 
sury. The latter gentleman received his original appoint¬ 
ment to that office in the year 1781, and remains in it to the 
present day, the last of the civil-officers of the revolution; and 
a monument of integrity, industry, and courtesy. 

It would be foreign to the present purpose to descant on 
the abilities displayed by the three first chiefs of the Depart¬ 
ments. They are generally known and are already embodied 
in history. The fiscal arrangements soon produced order 
from chaos, gave vitality and stability to public credit, and 
elicited a train of happy results, the benefits of which are 
sensibly experienced even at this existing hour; nor is the 
epoch near when their force will be expended. Such is the 
stamps which, under the direction of Divine Providence, ca¬ 
pacity and genius impress on the destiny of nations. 

HARMONY PREVAILS. 

The eye of the scrutinizing observer, anxious to discern 
the causes of the personal dissensions, and exasperated party- 
spirit, which afterward embarrassed, and in a certain degree 
deformed, the administration of our public affairs, will, per¬ 
haps, be directed to the inquiry, whether these new arange- 
mentsproduced any dissatisfaction ; whether any latent heart¬ 
burnings existed with those, who, being in employment under 
the old government, were superseded in the succeeding; and 
in what degree these may have contributed to give origin to 
new parties. 

A satisfactory answer may, probably, be given to this in¬ 
quiry. No dissatisfaction and no heart-burnings affecting 
the public interests, were excited. A slight sensibility might 
have been experienced by the Secretary of the Revolutionary 
Congress, at not bcinv nominated to the Department of Fo> 


9 


reign Affairs, or to that of State ; but if this existed, in any de¬ 
gree, it was transient, it soon subsided, and it was all. The 
former President of Congress was soon appointed to a re¬ 
spectable station in his native State, and the Commissioners 
of the Treasury elicited not a murmur. 

THE INSCTTI7T10N OF THE CABINET SYSTEM. 

The mind of General Washington was so constituted as to 
delight in, and to require, consultation. In the construction 
of the government, no constitutional advisers had been as¬ 
signed to the President. A dignified body was invested with 
a negative voice on his selections; but a daily, hourly, oral, 
confidential, and perfectly free, counsel was not expected 
from that body; nor were they in a situation to impart it. 

On the contrary, it soon grew into a practice with Presi¬ 
dent Washington, to assemble the Heads of Departments 
and the Attorney General; and to consult with them, thus 
embodied, orally and freely, on all his measures. This body, 
entirely unknown to the constitution, gradually acquired, and 
still retains, the appellation of the Cabinet. The Constitution 
only authorizes the President to require the opinion, in wri¬ 
ting, of the Head of a Department, on a matter falling within 
his Department. It was afterward announced, on an occa¬ 
sion, that will presently be more particularly adverted to by 
a Secretary of State, and a member of the Cabinet, that the 
first President generally relinquished his personal opinion in 
favour of that of a majority of his cabinet; nor is it believed 
but that this case has occurred to more, if not to all, of the 
Presidents. 

EXCLUSION OF THE VICE-PRESIDENT. 

From this Cabinet, it has been the uniform course to exclude 
the Vice-President. Perhaps his constitutional function of 
being prolocutor of the Senate was deemed incompatible 
with his being a member of the Cabinet. His attendance 
would frequently be inconvenient, and his possessing a voice 
in the deliberations of the Senate might render it indelicate. 
That any dissatisfaction arose from this course being pursu¬ 
ed, either at the time of its adoption, or subsequently, has ne¬ 
ver been manifested. The demise of the incumbent has 


10 


never occurred in relation to the office of President, nor 
even an indisposition so severe as to prevent the exercise of 
his function. If a Vice-President should be suddenly called 
to mature measures, on which he had had no previous op¬ 
portunity to exercise his judgment; or if after having origi¬ 
nated measures of an interesting character, he should be sud¬ 
denly called to relinquish the prosecution of them ; a diver¬ 
gence from harmonious administration might result. 

The Cabinet, thus for the first time known in the adminis¬ 
tration of American government, moved forward with great 
smoothness and energy for a considerable period after its in¬ 
stitution. The Presidency, as an office, or power, was in¬ 
deed, essentially, though in some degree, imperceptibly, 
changed from what the Constitution hadinade it, but the 
practical improvement was at once so great and so obvious, 
as to command silent acquiescence. 

CAUSES OF PARTIES, 

Parties arise, in free States, from the inculcation of new 
principles; or of a different practical application of those al¬ 
ready known. They constantly attend thinking and intelli¬ 
gent communities ; and are as diversified in their grades, as 
they are various in complexion. They originally commence 
in an honest difference of opinion ; and, so far, they are use¬ 
ful. But time, protracted labours, continual contentions, al- 
ternatesuccesses and disappointments, and a combination of 
all the interests, and of all the passions, that actuate the hu¬ 
man heart, eventually alter their character ; and what was, at 
first, an honourable and a useful party, at length becomes a 
dishonourable and a pernicious faction. 

When parties have been actually formed, in a free State, 
it is not to be expected but that they will reach the bosom 
of the executive family. 

GERM OF THE FIRST PARTIES. 

The germ of the political parties, which were destined 
soon to agitate the administration and people of the United 
States, was found in an honest difference of opinion between 
two intimate friends. They now stood in different relations, 
and under different responsibilities; the one, a member of 


11 


the Cabinet, and conducting the fiscal administration, the 
other, a member of the House of Representatives, and emi¬ 
nent in virtue and talent. The question involved not only 
an important point of policy, but a very nice point of moral 
rectitude. 

Colonel Hamilton thought that the national faith imperi¬ 
ously required that the public creditors should be fairly paid 
the full amount of the debts, of which they held the evi¬ 
dences. 

Mr. Madison thought that, considering the enormous pro¬ 
fit made by the existing holders of those evidences, and the 
deplorable sacrifices made by the original holders, such a 
discrimination should be piade as would enable both to parti¬ 
cipate in the advantage arising from the restoration of the 
public credit. This profit, or sacrifice, amounted, in some 
instances, to no less than seven hundred per cent. 

Some new questions soon arose to widen the divergency 
of opinion, and of action; and to impress more definite 
characters of party. It was proposed that the general 
government should assume upon itself certain debt, incur¬ 
red by the individual States in the prosecution of the war of 
the revolution. The selection of a permanent seat of nation¬ 
al government was a constitutional duty. The institution of 
a national bank was much desired, and involved a severe 
scrutiny into the construction of the Constitution itself. 

In the progress of the divisions, which the agitation of these 
questions produced, in the legislative councils, and among 
intelligent citizens, it was, ere long, discovered that the Ca¬ 
binet itself was- also divided. President Washington, of 
whose life it had already been one of the most painful tasks 
to adjust delicate pretensions, and to repress incipient dis¬ 
sension ; still held the balance with a steady hand, and" pos¬ 
sessed the unabated confidence ot the nation. 

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 

An important event was, however, in the womb of time;, 
and just about to receive its birth ; which while, on the one 
hand, it was to operate strange changes in the affairs of 
European nations, on the other, was to compel the American 


President to take a decided stand, and to control the con-' 
dieting opinions of his Cabinet. This was the subversion of 
the ancient French monarchy; and the conversion of a 
nation, gallant and polite, but fickle and sanguinary, into a 
republic. 

The consequences of the American and French revolu¬ 
tions, their connexions with the future destinies of mankind, 
are too grand and important to admit of any compressing. 
It will be sufficient to remark, that the American federal go¬ 
vernment, and the French revolution, were coeval in their 
commencement ; the former being organized between the 
fourth days of March and August, 1789, and the latter dating 
from the fourteenth day of July, in the same year. The 
French revolution has had its commencement, and its ter¬ 
mination ; but the American federal government still stands^ 
the admiration and the hope of the world. 

It was after the execution of the King, and on the pre¬ 
sentation of the new flag of the French republic to the 
United States, that the American President was obliged to 
rely on his sole and unbiassed judgment. A portion of his 
advisers hoped he would decline the acceptance of the em¬ 
blem. Another portion deprecated that course. President 
Washington not only determined to receive the flag, and 
thereby, effectually, to acknowledge the French republic; but 
accompanied the act with the most eloquent and impassioned 
address that characterized his w'hole life. He was ever af¬ 
terward claimed by, and recognised as belonging to, the party 
which acquired the appellation of the Democratic or Repub¬ 
lican. Sensible, however, that the mind of the President 
was elevated above subserviency to any party, that which 
acquired the denomination of Federal, did not regard him as 
estranged from them. 

Never, in the concerns of government, has there been mani¬ 
fested a degree of dementation so extravagant, silly, and 
sanguinary, as that which distinguished the so called, repub¬ 
licans of France. The human mind shudders at the horrors 
of the retrospect. It can, however, be only here observed, 
that the fondest hopes of the American people were deceived. 


IS 


Instead ot finding a respectable and powerful auxiliary to 
the principles of republicanism in the people of France^ 
the American people were left to sustain the great cause 
alone. 

THE MORAL SOURCE OF DISSENSION. 

During the hostilities, that soon broke out, and long con¬ 
tinued to rage, between France and Great Britain, tw^o 
counter-tides of party rolled in the United States ; constantly 
varying their fluctuations, and, at one time, embarrassing 
their administration, and, at another, distracting their people. 

Two domestic events were now to succeed ; of which, 
both were calculated, not only to separate parties still fur¬ 
ther, but, what was much more to be regretted, to impart to 
them a spirit of bitterness. These were the rise and con¬ 
tinuance of personal dissensions in the Cabinet, and the se-^ 
lection of a successor to the first President. 

THE MORAL SOURCE OF DISSENSIONS. 

The source of all dissensions lies in a departure, some¬ 
where, from moral propriety. It is a matter of more con¬ 
sequence, therefore, than it might, at first view, appear, to 
examine, even in controversies little otherwise interesting, 
but, more especially, in those which embroil communities 
and nations, where the original fault lies. This being truly 
ascertained, and generally known, controversy is likely to 
terminate. Nor is this task easj. In all controversies, both 
parties are apt to be much in the wrong ; and, w hen friends 
embark, the malignity of the moral ulcer is increased, and 
the deviations from rectitude of conduct become both more 
numerous and more important, with the adherents to the re¬ 
spective causes, than with the original parties themselves. 
It is rare that, in any controversy, right is entirely on one 
side. It is rare, if the parties to the original controversy 
should even conduct themselves towards each other with the 
most nice decorum, that their friends observe the same deli¬ 
cacy. It is rare also, in political controversies, and it thus 
infinitely augments the difficulty of settling their merits, that 
many virtues, talents, and fine qualities, are not found on both 
sides ; and as well with the original parties as with their re- 


14 


spective adherents. Without, however, the departure from 
moral rectitude, which has been alluded to, parties are not 
apt to continue long; nor to acquire great acerbity. Simple 
difference of sentiment, the result of enlightened and rational 
investigation, not only increases the respect and esteem of 
the original parties for each other, but both are even covered 
with the mantle of public applause. 

In political concerns, intrigue^ in its very worst and most 
aggravated sense, may be defined to be a combination of bad 
men^ to effect bad purposes, by the use of bad means. It admits 
of every gradation, from this exacerbated stage, down to the 
confines of simple innocence ; and approximates the latter, 
when it deviates from the line of open and candid virtue, 
only, by the circumstance of its measures and movements 
being veiled by secrecy and concealment. The latter quality 
alone, that of secrecy, is generally sufficient to characterize 
intrigue ; but when to this are added corrupt views, acute 
cunning, and desperate passions, the safety of men, and 
even of nations, becomes involved. Few governments are 
without intrigues ; nor can republican government claim an 
exemption. 

THOMAS JEFFERSON. 

The mind of Thomas Jefferson, of Virginia, Secretary of 
State under the Washington administration, and thus a pro¬ 
minent member of the Washington Cabinet, was of the first 
order. He may be regarded as the father of modern repub¬ 
licanism. He framed the Declaration of American Inde¬ 
pendence, and was the author of the first written Constitution 
known to the world. His republican principles were im¬ 
bibed from the fountains of antiquity. These were correct¬ 
ed, and improved, by an intimate knowledge of the nature 
and foundations of English liberty. The political rights of 
British subjects, and the admirable system of English juris¬ 
prudence, were familiar to him. He was an accomplished 
scholar in the ancient, and in the modern languages. In 
Mathematical and Natural Philosophy, he was profound. 
He was skilled in many of the arts. His integrity had the 
solidity of adamant, and his manners its polish. His pen 


16 


Was early exercised in del’ence df American rights ; and he 
was distinguished for a style rich, original, and energetic. In 
official capacities, his application was as severe, as his talents 
were high ; and the strength of European diplomacy, whether 
nurtured in the school of Britain, or of France, withered in 
his grasp. His Rights of British America, his Charter of 
her Independence, his Notes on Virginia, his Report on 
Measures and Weights, those on the Fisheries and Com¬ 
merce, his Correspondence with Hammond and with Genet, 
his Memoir on the Megalonyx, his Inaugural Address, and a 
variety of other brilliant productions, remain monuments of 
his splendid abilities ; and constitute treasures precious to 
history and to science. 

OPPOSITE VIEWS OF MR. JEFFERSON AND GENERAL HAMILTON. 

The common child of their labours, their perils, and their 
cares, the cause of American freedom, was perhaps alike dear 
to Jefferson and Hamilton; but they took opposite views of 
the dangers by which it was to be assailed. The one dreaded 
the degeneracy of American institutions into monarchy and 
aristocracy, forms of human government which the enlightened 
world had sufficient experience to discard ; while the appre¬ 
hensions of the other dwelt on prospects of anarchy, relaxation 
of authority, dissolution of order, and irretrievable confusion. 
It is not improbable that both magnified the dangers, on the 
sides from which they, respectively, viewed them ; and, while 
the excess of their apprehensions for the existence of freedom 
may be regarded as a proof of the zeal and sincerity of their 
attachment, it may also have, essentially and reciprocally, con¬ 
tributed to its preservation. 

Thus far the contest was honourable, and the distinction of 
parties useful. 

But minds, inferior in elevation and dignity to those who 
guided the destinies of the infant and interesting republic, and 
were cherishing the hopes of future millions, were suffered to 
intermingle ; and intrigues arose which the eye of history has 
not yet penetrated, destructive to the harmony of the 
tration, and invading the peace of Washington. 


adminis- 



MR,. JEFFERSON INSIDIOUSLY ASSAILED. 

Anonymous and secret communications were addressed to 
the latter, derogatory to VIr. Jefferson. An explanation was 
asked and given. This explanation darted a ray of light on 
the transactions ; and the bosom of the virtuous and amiable 
President was filled with painful anxiety. Mr. Jefferson 
generously determined to obviate all embarrassments, and re¬ 
tired from the administration ; and Colonel Hamilton soon af¬ 
terward adopted ihe same deterinination, but was anticipated 
by General Knox, in its execution. 

THE ADMINISTRATION CiSSOLVED. 

In the mean time, the correctness of a sentiment, confiden¬ 
tially communicated to his government by Mr. Jefferson, 
while iVJinist(?r to France, was assailed from the press, and 
defended by Colonel Monroe, then a Senator from Virginia, 
and now the American President. 

Thus expired the harmony of the Cabinet. The evils of the 
system had begun to manifest themselves ; and were soon to 
be developed with an irresistible and overwhelming force of 
conviction. 

A NEW CABINET. 

Edmund Randolph, of Virginia, the Attorney-General of 
the United Slates, was raised to the S’ecretaryship of State; 
and Oliver Wolcott, of Connecticut, Comptroller in the 
Financial Department, to that of ihe I reasury. In the in¬ 
terval Timothy Pickering, of Massachusetts, Postmaster- 
General of the United States, was appointed Secretary of 
War, and Mr. Bradford, of Pennsylvania, Attorney-General. 
Mr. Randolph was thus, though his capacity had been changed, 
the only remnant of the old Cabinet; but was destined soon 
to fall a victim to its dissensions. 

ILLUSIONS OF FOREIGN MINISTERS. 

It is not to be regarded as a matter of surprise, that foreign 
Ministers, arriving in the United States, should form miscon¬ 
ceptions, both of the government, and the people. Accustom¬ 
ed to a greater or less degree of splendour and parade in govern¬ 
ment of every kind, and more particularly to a portion of 
military parade, they behold, with infinite astonishment, a 


17 


great people, among whom, from the President oi the United 
States to the Governors of the individual States, and from 
them through all the grades and ramifications of office, not a 
single external symptom is exhibited of their dignities or au¬ 
thorities ; nor is a soldier to be seen. Informed that it is a 
popular government, they behold neither mob, nor tumult, nor 
noise, nor crowd; but find every man, public and private, 
pursuing his avocation, in solitary quiet. They have heard, 
and they have read, and perhaps with admiration, of the Li¬ 
berty OF THE Press ; but, in beholding what this liberty ac¬ 
tually is, they were not prepared to find, that every man in a 
republican government, in any public station, low or high, or 
having any pretensions to it, is, if his opponents are to be ex¬ 
clusively believed, not merely a signal dishonour to his par¬ 
ticular country, but to the species itself. It remains a mystery 
to them; notwithstanding they see the actual operation of 
those happy ventilators of the public passions, to which tlie 
Liberty of the Press gives birth; how the popular mind is so 
cool, so tranquil, so dispassionate, so equitable and correct in 
its judgments. They know that, with this people, elections 
must be both numerous and frequent; but they have been 
told that the Americans are somewhat of a more literary and 
intelligent community, and cannot readily believe that, from 
one end of their country to the other, there is but one, to 
them a tedious and uninteresting topic of conversation, the 
next election. Elections themselves, they have also heard of, 
or beheld ; and they associate with them frightful ideas of 
turbulence, violence, and confusion. 

GRADUALLY DISSIPATED. 

The residence of foreign Ministers, a few years, in the 
United States, gradually dissipates these illusions. A foreign 
Minister, from the North of Europe, who had been sometime 
in the United States, waS met, at Philadelphia, by another, 
from the same quarter, his friend, who had recently arrived; 
and who had been at Washington, without seeing there Pre¬ 
sident or Vice-President, Senator or Representative, Minis¬ 
ters domestic or foreign, or troops any where ; and was ac¬ 
costed with an interrogation of the following nature. 


.viiat soi-t of a country am I, and where is the government ^ 
for, on my part, I can sec no government whatever ?” To 
this his friend made the following remarkable reply. “ This 
is a government which can be neither seen, nor felt; and, yet, 
it is the strongest government on earth.” Foreign Ministers, 
of a sober and reflecting cast, frequently leave the United 
States with impressions, respecting republicanism, very dif¬ 
ferent from those with which they came.- When, in fact, 
they see the two Houses of Congress in actual session, and 
the assiduity with which their members, and the executive 
departments, devote themselves to the public business ; when 
they advert to the Governors and Legislatures of the twenty- 
four States equally engaged, independently of the innumera¬ 
ble administrations of counties, cities, and towns; when 
they view the various tribunals of justice, in constant occu¬ 
pation ; when they behold the dense population of the east, 
bristling in military array, at the militia musters, and the fo¬ 
rest, around a solitary court house, in the south and west, 
pouring forth well armed battalion upon battalion; when they 
visit a military academy, a garrison, or a seventy-four gun 
ship, and observe the intelligence, the strength, and the dis¬ 
cipline, they display; when they reflect on the magnitude, 
and the regularity, of the revenues, and the extent and ac¬ 
tivity of the commerce, restricted only by the limits of the 
globe ; when they consider the immense regions which the 
posts traverse, and with what speed,—the multiplicity of the 
Gazettes, and with what avidity they are perused ; and when, 
finally, they look at the precise and orderly system, with 
which the elections are conducted, that give rise to all this 
animation, and afford all this protection ;—they are indeed 
struck with an awful sense of what this nation is, with a con¬ 
viction of where its strength and energies lie, and feel that it 
is a government both to be admired and revered. 

OCCASIONAL ARROGANCE. 

Sometimes foreign Ministers arrive, inflated with arrogance 
and presumption ; and entertaining views, the most crude and 
incorrect, of the character of the government, and of the 
people, of the United States. The two first Ministers 'of the 


French Republic, a Brifitth Consul, and aitervvaid a British 
Ambassador, gave considerable trouble to the American ad¬ 
ministration. The two latter were dismissed ; and of the 
two former, the recall of the first was asked for on the part 
of the American President, and accorded by the rulers of 
France. The acts of his successor involved the standing of 
Mr. Randolph, and again broke the Cabinet of Washington. 

MR. FAUCHET. 

Monsieur Fauchet, in the quality of Minister Plenipoten¬ 
tiary of the French Republic, near the United States, on the 
tenth day of Brumaire, in the third year of the French Re¬ 
public, one and indivisible, corresponding to the thirty-first 
day of October, in the year 1794, according to the American 
or Gregorian Calendar, addressed, from Philadelphia, to the 
Minister of Foreign relations in France, a despatch, which is 
characterized, in the caption, as the private correspondence 
of the Ambassador on politics, or, as we are accustomed to 
term itj confidential; and which is numbered as the tenth deji- 
patch, of that description, he had transmitted. 

IMPLICATES MR. RANDOLPH. 

in this despatch, Mr. Fauchet refers to overtures made to 
him by Mr. Randolph, who, he says, had come to see him, 
with an air of great eagerness ; and of which overtures he 
had given an account in a previous despatch, numbered six. 
Immediately after the reference thus made to these overtures, 
follow some remarks relating to them, which are too impor¬ 
tant to be omitted ; and which, in true fairness, ought to be 
presented in their original dress, if this were practicable. 
Not being so at present, if it should hereafter become so, lids 
deficiency will be supplied. The origiiial.French manuscript 
may have perished in the conflagration of Washington. The 
sense of the remarks, in the Fnglish language, may, perhaps, 
he fairly given, in the following terms. “ The Republic could 
thus, with some thousands of dollars, have decided on peace 
or civil war. ''J’he consciences of the pretended patriots of 
America have thus, already, their tarifl’. Of these conclu¬ 
sions, painful to be drawn, the certainty will, undoubtedly, for 
ever exist in our archives. What will he the old age of this 


government, it it be thus early decrepit! ?’ in another pan 
of this despatch, M. Faiichet has the following remark : 

The precious confessions of Mr. Randolph, alone, throw a 
satisfactory light upon every thing that comes to pass.” M. 
Fauchet, in a subsequent part of the same despatch, having 
observed that Mn Taylor, a republican member of the Senate, 
had published a pamphlet, asserting that thedecrepid state of 
affairs, resulting from the tinanciering system, presaged either 
a revolution ora civil war, proceeds with the following re¬ 
marks. “ The lirst was preparing. The goverment, which 
had foreseen it, reproduced, under various forms, the demand 
of a disposable force, that might put it in a respectable state 
of defence. Defeated in this measure, who can aver that it 
may not have hastened the local eruption, in order to make 
an advantageous diversion ; and to lay the more general storm, 
which it saw gathering? Am I not authorized in forming this 
conjecture, from the conversation, which the Secretary of 
State had with me and Le Blanc, alone ; an account of which 
you have in my despatch numbered three?” A little further 
on, he states, that Mr. Randolph told him, “ that under the 


pretext of giving energy to the government^ it zvas intended to 
introduce absolute power; and to mislead the President into 
paths, that zuotdd conduct him to unpopularity Speaking, all 
the time, of the first Pennsylvania insurrection, he again ob¬ 
serves, that the “ military part of the suppression is, doubt¬ 
less, Mister Hamilton’s ; the pacific part, and the sending of 
commissioners, are due to the influence of Mister Randolph 
over the mind of the President; whom I delight, always, to 
believe, and whom 1 do believe, truly virtuous, and the friend 
of his fellow'-citizens, and of principles.” 

These are all the remarks contained in the despatch of ci¬ 
tizen Fauchet, that have a personal bearing on the American 
Secretary of State ; except two, of minor importance. The 
first states the Governor of Pennsylvania to enjoy the name 
of republican, and the Secretary of that Commonwealth to 
possess great influence in the popular society of Philadelphia, 
which, in its turn, influenced those of other States, and that 
these men, with others unknown to citizen Fauchet, all hav¬ 
ing, without doubt, Randolph at their head, were balancing 


£0 decide on tlicir party, before the proclamation was puu ' 
hshed, and before the cabinet had resolved on its measurcso 
The second alludes to the constitutionality of the President’s 
remaining to command the arm^ in person, while Congress 
W'ere in session, wdiich the patriotic papers opposed ; and 
states that citizen Fauchet is certain that the office of the Se¬ 
cretary of State, which alone remained at Philadelphia, main¬ 
tained the controversy in favour of the opinion which it was 
desired to establish.” 

HIS DESPATCHES INTERCEPTED. 

It was the last of the conceptions of citizen Fauchet, that 
this despatch, instead of being lodged in one of the bureaux 
of Foreign Relations at Paris, should visit the Cabinets of 
London and Philadelphia, and take its repose at Washington. 
Yet such was its destiny. On the passage across the Atlantic 
Ocean, it was found on board a French vessel, named the 
Jean Bart, captured by the British. The interceptors for¬ 
warded it to London ; whence Lord Grenville trasmitted it 
to Mr. Hammond, at Philadelphia. Mr. Hammond put it 
into the hands of Mr. Wolcott; who showed it to Mr. Picker¬ 
ing and to Mr. Bradford. Mr. Pickering made a translation 
of it for President Washington. 

MR. RANDOLPH SUPPLANTED. 

The suspicions arising in the breast of* the President, from 
the perusal of this despatch, were so strong; and his mind 
was so operated upon, by the other members of the Cabinet, 
that he adopted toward Mr. Randolph a deportment, which, 
instantly, produced his resignation. 

VINDICATES HIMSELF. 

Mr. Randolph published a vindication of his resignation. 
This commences with a statement of facts, and terminates 
with a pathetic remonstrance to the President. It is inter¬ 
spersed with a variety of interesting documents. Among 
them, are extracts from the previous despatches, numbered 
three and six ; which are referred to, by the intercepted des¬ 
patch, numbered ten. A complete analysis of the latter is 
made, and when taken in connexion with the certificate of 
Mr. Fauchet, given on board of the Medusa, on the fifteenth 


ol* Fructidor, in the year three; or first of September, 1795 : 
and when the whole of the facts and circumstances are col¬ 
lated and compared, no candid, charitable, and impartial 
mind will i < pute to Mr. Randolph the slightest degree of cor¬ 
ruption or impurity, nor to any other functionary of the go¬ 
vernment whatever ; so that the whole mischief seems to have 
arisen solely from the vanity, and self-inflation, of the French 
Minister. 

Of the tissue of errors and folly woven by the fertile ima¬ 
gination of the P>ench Minister, it might at this day, and with 
the peculiar views with which this discussion is undertaken, 
appear invidious to speak. It is sufficient to say, that the 
mischief produced, was totally irreparable ; that President 
Washington was betrayed into precipitate measures toward 
Mr. Randolph, and Mr. Randolph into such as were disre¬ 
spect'ui to the President; and iha; two worthy men lived in 
estrangement, until separated by death. 

ms VINDICATION REVEALS THE UNCONSTITUTIONAL OPERATION OF 
THE CABINET SYSTEM. 

But there is one passage, in the vindication of Mr. Ran¬ 
dolph, essential to the main object of this discussion ; and 
which will, therefore, be introduced, though 'mingled with 
extraneous matters. If is of the following purport: 

“ The lime when the letter cn pt from the pocket of the 
British Minister, he was exposed to very obvious animadver¬ 
sions. You had been informed of his eagerness to crown his 
mission, by the consummation of the treaty ; of which he was 
an affectionate admirer, and lord Grenville had been the anx¬ 
ious parent. Mr. Wolcott, profuse in his responsibilities for 
others, would seem, in his letter of October the eighth, to ex¬ 
cuse Mr. Hammond from requesting, or intimating that the 
contents of a letter might be communicated to the President j 
and fathers it as his own suggestion that it ought to be deli¬ 
vered to him, for that purpose. The world cannot be de¬ 
ceived by this. Mr. Hammond understood the goodness of 
the soil, in which he was sowing the seed, and duly appre¬ 
ciated the fruit, which was to spring from it. He was con¬ 
vinced, and you must have been convinced, that be counteef 



lipon your being made a partner of the secret; and would 
have soon explained himself, in that way, if Mr. Wolcott’s 
patriotic ardour to hurl a feeble dart at the republicans of the 
United States had not anticipated him, by a particular appli¬ 
cation. With this impiession, it ought to have occurred that 
Mr. Hammond might havt chosen, for the communication, 
the period when you refused the ratification, from a circum¬ 
stance, principally, relative to the French. I assert that he 
preferred this period, because he was instructed to use the 
letter for the benefit of his Majesty’s service. He had long 
ago heard that you generally suffered yourself to be governed 
by a majority of your council; and that a concert between 
Messieurs Wolcott and Pickering, who sought, with joy, the 
seeming authority to denounce the foes of the treaty as a de¬ 
testable and nefarious conspirac}'. and were perhaps fumished 
with some peculiar topics for yOur ear, would turn your mind 
to the revocation of your original intention. Considerations 
like these should have recommended real moderation, in de¬ 
ciding upon a mutilated instrument; and the inducement to 
moderation was heightened by a natural suspicion that the 
suppression of the letter from me, until Mr. Hamilton was on 
ship board, arose from his reluctance to be interrogated con¬ 
cerning its references.” 

I would, here, arrest the attention of the individual citizen, 
to whom this discussion is particularly addressed, and direct it 
to the following words, which are contained in the preceding 
observations ; you generally suifered yourself to be govern ¬ 
ed by a majority of your council.” The idea they convey 
will be more amply dilated on hereafter. 

Sir William Temple, the celebrated English Minister to 
the Republic of Holland, observes that, almost in all govern¬ 
ments those, who have an opportunity of knowing the interior 
movement, find the real power exercised by hands, very dif¬ 
ferent from those in which the constitution has placed it. Let 
the reflecting citizen consider what becomes of the constitu¬ 
tional power, in any instance, where a President of the United 
States is so governed, by a Cabinet thus constructed. 


24' 


A j^EVV CABINET FORMED, FROM WHICH THE SOUTH IS EXCLUDED^ 

Mr. Pickering was charged by the President with the func¬ 
tions of Secretary of State, and he conducted that Department 
and the Department of War at the same time, until the close 
of the year 1795, when Dr. McHenry was called to the lat¬ 
ter. This gentlernan belonged to the State of Maryland; 
and thus the States south of the Potomac lost all representa¬ 
tion in the Cabinet. Virginia, however, had one of her dis¬ 
tinguished sons, as the representative of the nation at the 
court, then the most interesting of Europe. He, too, was 
destined to fall the victim of the Cabinet. 

ASSAILS MR. MONROE. 

At the present day, when parties are annihilated and ani¬ 
mosities smoothed, partly by policy, but principally by the im¬ 
perceptible, though steady operation of time, it is eminently 
useful to take a r^ trospective and dispassionate view of the 
causes which originated or embittered them. ‘'When the dig¬ 
nity of the three personages concerned. General Washington, 
Colonel Pickering, and Colonel Monroe, is considered, the 
mind of the individual citizen, ruminating on past evil, and 
endeavouring to avert future, and clinging to the high hopes of 
his countrv with invincible f rtitude under every blast, be¬ 
comes perplexed to know what were the elements of this third 
explosion, in the administration of the first President, and if 
blame attaches any where, to whom it is to be imputed. 

HIS TRANSACTIONS IN FRANCE. 

The transactions of Colonel Monroe, while Minister to 
France, belong rather to the history of the nation, than to a 

succinct and irnperiect sketch of its mere Cabinet history._ 

Nor can it be doubted that, when faithfully exhibited, they 
will greatly embellish the historic page. Certain it is, that 
the communications to his government, at a period when Paris 
and the domiciliary arena of Paris, determined the controver¬ 
sies of Europe ; communications written on (he spot, and 
under the feelings of the hour, manifest a wonderful sagacity 
and accuracy of political observation and judgment, at so 
early a period of life. They do more. When the march of 
nations is in ordinary time, the task of the diplomatist, replete 


io 

With ancient lore, and not destitute of modern statistics, is 
comparatively easy. When the tempest and the whirlwind 
arise *, when chart, and tables, and quadrant, and compass, 
become worse than useless ; and whenever, in tine, impene¬ 
trable obscurity reigns, and particularly if accompanied with 
danger, then a quality is exacted from human nature, of a 
higher character than language has usually been competent to 
describe; and therefore, by the common consent of mankind, 
it is denominated— genius. To the humiliation of philosophy, 
and the confusion of learned pride, let the sublime truth be 
fearlessly told, that genius is as often the concomitant of the 
illiterate, as of the most cultivated minds. In every instance, 
however, where intellectual cultivation is combined with ge¬ 
nius, the results are uniformly, more than proportionate to 
what any calculation could anticipate. Genius discovered 
America ; genius analyzed lightning ; genius gave steam navi¬ 
gation. Whenever the elements of confusion are in fearful 
commotion, and ordinary talents recede in dismay, genius, 
with instinctive resolution, marches onward, and the irradia¬ 
tions of light accompany its steps. In new and untried emer¬ 
gencies, genius bursts open the avenue of success. Thus, 
when in France, the demolition of ancient usages left the 
committee of public safety at an utter loss how to receive the 
envoy of a sister republic, the genius of Monroe broke asun¬ 
der every fetter, led the American Minister into the bosom of 
the National Convention itself, and presented a spectacle 
which interested all Europe. Thus, when the liberties of 
South America were fluttering in the breeze, that same genius 
spoke to the congregated monarchs of Europe; and, witli 
prophetic energy, announced the solemn and awful monition 
—thus far may you advance^ hut there must your proud ban¬ 
ners he staid. 

VIGOUR OF AMERICAN DIPLOMACY. 

The vigour of American diplomacy has been tested on many 
occasions ; and the despatches of our ministers have not mere¬ 
ly equalled, but have transcended, in merit of observation, 
and elegance of diction, those of the first rate courtiers of 
Europe. The productions of Mr. Monroe will not sufler in 
any comparison. IJis lively picture of the fall of Robespierre, 

4 


and his aninialed narrative of the battle between the revolted 
sections of Paris and the National Convention, on the 5th day 
of October, 1 795, give history greater interest than romance. 
The correspondence of Mr. Jefferson, while in France, has 
been asked for by Europe ; nor ought that of Mr. Monroe to 
be pretermitted. 

GIDDINESS OF THE FRENCH PEOPLE. 

The unsteadiness and vacillation of the French people and 
government; their giddy and inconsiderate adoption and 
abandonment of momentous measures, evidently invested 
with responsible consequences ; and, what will at first appear 
strange, though it will prove not the less true, the subordinate 
attainment of men elevated to high political stations, under 
their republic, when contrasted with the erudition and intel¬ 
ligence, the sound virtue and wisdom of the American states¬ 
men, rendered it a task of no common difficulty to preserve 
harmony between France and America, dear as was that ob¬ 
ject to the people of the latter, and to their administration. 
There exists no ground to apprehend that, in a candid review 
of any controversies that may have passed between them, an 
impartial mind, foreign to both the nations, would pronounce 
America in the wrong. The policy of pressing, to a greater 
or less extent, certain new principles which were desired to 
be admitted between belligerent and neutral powers, of which 
those of principal importance were, that the neutrality of the 
ship should protect the property of enemies on board, articles 
contraband of war excepted ; the diminution of the specific 
articles to be regarded as contraband ; and the payment for 
provisions and other articles not generally contraband, seized 
by becoming such, from being destined to a place under legi¬ 
timate blockade, might indeed admit of diversity of senti¬ 
ment ; but that the course of the American government was 
intended to be in the strictest conformity to the existing law 
of nations, as far as the antipathies and jealousies of the con¬ 
tending parties would permit, will not be denied, 

MR. MONROE FALLS UNDER THE CABINET. 

The exertions of Mr. Monroe to maintain harmony with 
France were unintermitted, and eminently auspicious. Yet a 
slight incident interrupted bis own with the American Cabinet, 


1 lie acting Secretary of State, shortly after entering upon the 
functions of his station, addressed a letter, dated September 
12th, 1795, to the Minister Plenipotentiary at Paris, announ¬ 
cing the ratification of the treaty with Great Britain, and vin- 
dicating its operation, with relation to France, and which was 
received by the Minister in the beginning of December fol¬ 
lowing, and answered on the sixth of that month. On the 
13th day of June, 1796, Mr. Pickering acquaints Mr. Monroe 
that the views of the government of the United States, relating 
to the British treaty, having been communicated to him, for the 
sole purpose of furnishing him with the means of removing the 
objections, and dispelling the jealousies of the French government, 
he had contented himself merely with having those means in his 
possession, without applying them to the object for which they were 
transmitted. Antecedent to the receipt of this letter by Mr. 
Monroe, he was recalled. On his return to the United States 
he published an exposition of the transactions connected with 
his mission, founded principally on official documents. They 
afford abundant evidence of his zeal, assiduity, and talents; 
and present a dignified and triumphant vindication of the 
American government, in relation to the treaty with Great 
Britain. 

Thus fell the Virginians under the scythe of the Cabinet. 
—Jefferson, Randolph, Monroe, were in succession cut 
down, two of them destined to rise gigantic from the fall.— 
What would have been the fate of Washington, had he tried 
another administration, with the same Cabinet, is a problem 
for conjecture. As events proved, the evils of the system 
were to fall, with accumulated force, on his successor. 

MR. ADAMS. 

During the eight years of the Washington administration, 
nothing could transcend the modest and inoffensive deport¬ 
ment of the Vice-President. No intrigues are imputed to 
him ; no attempts to disturb the harmony of the government; 
no artifices to disparage the merits or consequence of others; 
no interferences with official appointments; no tamperings 
with corruption or ambition. His public and his private life 
exhibited, alike, a model of exemplary purity. Like the other 


distinguished actors on the great theatre ol the revolution, 
he had appeared a juvenile and efficient combatant for the 
rights of America. The early productions of his pen evince 
the vigour of his intellect. His protracted contest, with a 
distinguished loyalist of the times, was attended with victory 
over the assailant. These productions are yet too little 
known to America. They will compare to advantage, with 
those of Mr. Jefferson, of similar object, and contemporary 
eera. After the first effusion of blood, on the memorable 
nineteenth of April, 1775, Mr. Adams took a bolder and more 
active course. He first shaped the revolutionary movements 
of Massachusetts ; and then those of the whole continent. 
He promoted, wkli decision and energy, all the measures 
that led to indeperdence ; and assisted in the formation of 
the sublime instrument which announced it. Leaving his 
countrymen united, he sought and obtained for them the 
friendship and assistance of a powerful nation in Europe. 
He participated in the negotiations for peace, and secured 
by his firmness the western country. He then represented 
the new-born empire, at the court of the maternal kingdom. 
In a literary work, of great interest, he challenged, for the 
American principles and institutions of government, the respect 
of all Europe and of mankind. 

IS ELECTED THE SECOND PRESIDENT. 

Four distinguished characters had attracted attention as the 
successor of Washington ; the Vice-President, the late Se¬ 
cretary of State of the first Cabinet, the late Secretary of 
the Treasury of the same, and the Chief Justice of the 
United States. American parties differ from those of most 
other countries, in being not merely personal, but also geo¬ 
graphical. The character of the population at one extremity 
of the empire does not differ from that of the other, so much 
as that of vicinous shires, counties, provinces, and cantons, 
in the old world ; and yet the difference is such as to super¬ 
induce a diversity of sentiment and feeling. Improperly 
cherished, with some who have not had the happiness of 
knowing the good qualities of both, and who forget that, 
from unavoidable necessity, both have their faults, these 


29 


feelings gradually ripen into hatred ; and, unchecked by re¬ 
ligion, or by philosophy, the bitterest passions are permitted 
to range. Freedom of election, and freedom of the press, 
are republican safety-valves, that discharge the excessive 
ebullitions of the political passions.—When parties are well 
defined, and well marshalled, the first principle in their tac¬ 
tics, with great propriety, is, to relinguish all minor preten¬ 
sions in favour of the candidates of predominant acceptability. 
The electioneering campaign is thus well sustained on both 
sides ; and public opinion comes out definite, and precise. 
Accordingly, the pretensions of the two latter personages 
alluded to were not exhibited by their friends, or favoured by 
themselves ; and the competition remained between the tw^o 
former alone. The demarcatioai was drawn, with tolerable 
clearness; both politically, and geographically. After a 
contest ably maintained, the victory attached to the candidate 
of Massachusetts ; and was politely acquiesced in by that of 
Virginia. 

IS FETTERED BV THE CABINET. 

It is a great evil, in the Cabinet system, when the legitimate 
powers of the Presidential office are detorted from the hands 
in which the Constitution has placed them. The evil is in¬ 
creased, when the existing President has not himself the 
selection of the Cabinet, which thus claims to govern him.— 
The second President came into office with a Cabinet Minis¬ 
try handed over to him by his predecessor. Capriciously to 
dismiss all these Ministers, for the mere purpose of having 
new ones, would be a course little creditable to the judgment 
or humanity of the new President; and certainly less calcu¬ 
lated to advance the interests of the public, to whom, in some 
cases, the lights of their experience might be invaluable. In 
a war, for instance, wffiere the national existence might be at 
stake, the public would be little satisfied with the removal 
of a Minister of Marine, who might be able to save the 
nation ; and the substitution of a less competent and more 
precarious hand, merely because his manners might be more 
agreeable to a President. On the other hand, it would form 
a subject of regret, that an office so high, so dignified, so de- 


30 


iightful to an intelligent and philanthropic mind, as that of 
President of the United States of America, should have its 
personal felicity impaired by an officer being thrust, as it 
were, into his family, of a rude, treacherous, and malignant 
character ; an officer whom he has the legitimate power to 
remove, but yet whom, at the same time, he dare not remove, 
without encountering greater evils than result from his incum¬ 
bency. Did the evil arise from the operation of some settled 
principles in the government; were the officer irresponsible 
orirreinoveable, it would be much more tolerable. But when 
the remedy rests in the bosom of the President alone, and 
when the circumstances, from whatever cause, are such, that 
he dare not apply it, the case is more vexatious. Does our 
history, however, actually afford cases of a Minister endea¬ 
vouring to undermine a President; or of a President endea¬ 
vouring to undermine a Minister ? 

BURSTS THE FETTERS.-THE CASE OF FRIES CONTRASTED WITH 

THAT OF THE EARL OF STRAFFORD. 

When President Adams found the fetters of a Cabinet, not 
given to him by the Constitution, tightening too closely upon 
him, he bursts the shackles ; and exhibited his native firmness 
of character. The most trying situation to which, in the 
execution of his functions, a President is liable, is that in 
which the life of a fellow-citizen is, at least, reduced to a de¬ 
pendence on his single volition. To this situation, President 
Adams was brought in the case of Fries, of Pennsylvania, 
condemned to death for treason. The pardon of Fries, by 
the President, is severely reprobated by General Hamilton, 
is disapproved by Colonel Pickering ; and was indeed, in di¬ 
rect contradiction to the advice of the whole Cabinet. In 
these trying circumstances, Mr. Adams takes a correct view 
of the nature of the Presidential office, and its relations to 
those who, having no constitutional powers confided to them, 
would wrest the exercise of legitimate authority from its con¬ 
stitutional depository. He considered his responsibility, for 
executive acts, as sole ; and, when this conviction leads him 
in a direction contrary to the advice of all the ministers, he 
correctly deems it both the rights and the duty^ of the Presi- 


dent, to be governed by his own nature and unbiassed judg¬ 
ment alone. The following are his own words—‘‘ This was 
m}^ situation in more than one instance. It had been so in 
the nomination of Mr. Gerry; it was, afterward, so, in the 
pardon of Fries, two measures that I recollect with infinite sa^ 
tisfaction, and which will console me in my last hour.^^ The 
light in which the principle places counsellors, systematical¬ 
ly embodied without the authority of the Constitution, and, 
in fact, destitute of any official responsibility, in that charac¬ 
ter, will appear more clear, when the evils attending the 
cabinet system are reduced to specifications. To illustrate, 
however, the propriety of the principle, it will be proper to 
contrast the case of Fries with a case in which an opposite 
course was pursued to that adopted by President Adams. It 
occurred to King Charles the first, of Great Britain, and is 
contained in his posthumous work, to which I presume some 
friend has attached the title. Icon Basilica, or Regal Image, 
If the typographer should deem the orthography, the capi¬ 
tals, the punctuation, the italics, the parentheses, worthy his 
curiosity, he will find the following an exact counterpart of 
the original: 

EXTRAORDINARY CONFESSIONS OF THE BRITANIC KING. 

“ I resolved to reform what I should by free and full advice 
in Parliament be convinced to be amisse ; and to grant what¬ 
ever my Reason and Conscience told Me was fit to be de¬ 
sired ; I wish I had kept My self within these bounds; and 
not suffered My own Judgment to have been overborn in some 
things, more by others importunities, than their arguments ; 
My confidence had lesse betrayed Myself and My Kingdomes, 
to those advantages which some men sought for, who wanted 
nothing but power and occasion to do mischief.” 

“ 1 looked upon my Lord of Stafford^ as a Gentleman, 
whose great abilities might make a Prince rather afraid, than 
ashamed to employ him, in the greatest affairs of state.” 

“ For those were prone to create in him great confidence of 
undertakings, and this was like enough to betray him to great 
errors, and many enemies :—Whereof he could not but con¬ 
tract good store, while moving in so high a sphere, and with 


so vigorous a lustre, he must needs (as the Sun) raise many 
envious exhalations, which condensed by a popular odium^ 
werd^capable to cast a cloud upon the brightest merit and 
integrity.” 

“ Though I cannot in my judgment approve all he did, 
driven (it may be) by the necessities of times, and the temper 
of that people, more than led by his own disposition to any 
heighth and rigour of actions: yet 1 could never be convinced 
of any such criminousenesse in him, as willingly to expose 
his life to the stroke of Justice, and malice of his enemies.” 

“ I never met with a more unhappy conjuncture of atfairs, 
then in the business of that unfortunate Earl: when between 
my own iinsatisfiednesse in Conscience, and a necessity (as 
some told me) of satisfying the importunities of some people ; 
I was persuaded by those, that I think wished me well, to 
choose rather what was safe, than what seemed just; prefer¬ 
ring the outward peace of my kingdoms with men, before that 
inward exactness of Conscience before God.” 

“ And indeed I am so farre from excusing or denying that 
complyance on My part (for plenary consent it was not) to 
his destruction, whom in my Judgment I thought not, by any 
clear law, guilty of death : That I never bare any touch of 
Conscience with greater regret: which as a signe of my re¬ 
pentance, 1 have often with sorrow confessed both to God and 
men, as an act of so sinfull frailty, that it discovered more a 
fear of Man, then of God ; whose name and place on earth 
no man is worthy to bear, who will avoid inconveniences of 
State, by acts of so high injustice, as no publick convenience 
can expiate or compensate.” 


“ • ‘‘ *'“‘1 exchange to wound a mans own Conscience, 

thereby to salve state sores; to calm the storms of popular dis¬ 
contents, by stirring up a tempest in a mans own bosome.” 

“ Nor hath Gods Justice failed in the event and sad conse¬ 
quences, to shew the world the fallacy of that Maxime. Bd- 

one man perish, {though unjustly) then Ike people he clis- 

pleased, or destroyed. For, 

“ In all likelyhood, 1 could never have suffered with mv 
People, greater calamities, (yet with greater comfort) had 'l 


33 


Vindicated Staffords umocency, at least by denying to signfe 
that destructive bill, according to that Justice which My 
Conscience suggested to Me, then I have done since I grati¬ 
fied some mens unthankfull importunities with so cruel a fa¬ 
vour, And I have observed, that those, who counselled Me 
to signe that Bill, have been so farre from receiving the re¬ 
wards of such ingratiatings with the people, that no men have 
been harassed and crushed more than they ; he onely hath 
been least vexed by them, who counselled me not to consent 
against the vote of my own Conscience ; 1 hope God hath 
forgiven Me and them, the sinfull rashnesse of that busi- 
nesse.” 

‘‘ To which being in My soul so fully conscious, those Judg¬ 
ments God hath pleased to send upon Me, are so much the 
more wel come, as a means (I hope) which his mercy hath 
sanctified so to Me, as to make Me repent of that unjust Act, 
(for so it was to Me) and for the future to teach Me, That the 
best rule of policy is to prcferre the doing of Justice, before 
all enjoyments ; and the peace of My Conscience, before the 
preservation of My Kingdoms.” 

“ Nor hath any thing more fortified My resolutions against 
all those violent importunities, which since have sought to gain 
a like consent from Me to Acts, wherein my Conscience is 
unsatisfied, then the sharp touches I have had for what passed 
Me, in My Lord of Strafford^s busines.” 

“ Not that I resolved to have employed him in my afiairs 
against the advice of my Parliament, but 1 would not have 
bad any hand in his death, of whose guiltlessnesse I was bet¬ 
ter assured, then any man living could be.” 

“ Nor were the crimes objected against him so clear, as af¬ 
ter a long and fair hearing to give convincing satisfaction to 
the Major part of both Houses : especially that of the Lords, 
of whom scarce a third part were present, when the Bill passed 
that House : And tor the House of Commons, many Gentle¬ 
men, disposed enough to diminish My Lord of Slraffords 
greatness and power, yet unsatisfied of his guilt in Law, durst 
not condemn him to die : who for their integrity in their votes, 
were by Posting their Names, exposed to the popular calumny 
hatred and fury, which grew them so exorbitant in their cla- 


34 


moursybr justice, (that is, to have both Myselt and the two 
Houses Vote, and do as they would have us) that many (’tis 
thought) were rather terrified to concurre with the condemn¬ 
ing party, then satisfied that of right they ought so to do.” 

‘‘ And that after Act vacating the Authority of the prece¬ 
dent, for future imitation, sufficiently tells the world, that some 
remorse touched even his most implacable enemies, as know¬ 
ing he had very hard measure, and such as they would be very 
loth should be repeated to themselves.” 

“ This tenderness and regret 1 find in my soul, for having 
had any hand (and (hat very unwillingly God knows) in shed¬ 
ding one mans bloud unjustly, (though under the colour and 
formalities of justice, and pretences of avoiding public mis¬ 
chiefs) which may (1 hope) be some evidence before God and 
Man, to all Posterity, that I am farre from bearing justly the 
vast load and guilt of all that bloud which hath been shed 
in this unhappy Warre; which some men will needs charge 
on Me, to ease their own souls ; who am, and ever shall be, 
more afraid to take away any mans life unjustly, then to lose 
my own.” 

What an awful admonition from a monarch about to die by 
a public execution, to those entrusted with high executive 
functions to exercise them with justice and firmness. 

THE CABINET ENDEAVOUR TO FORCE THE PRESIDENT INTO A WAR. 

But it was not alone in extending executive grace to Fries, 
that President Adams was thwarted in his administration by 
his Cabinet Ministers. A war with France, whether in his 
own judgment avoidable or not, seems to have been determin¬ 
ed on for him ; and, in the selection of officers, for the con¬ 
duct of a war so important, his views and judgment were to 
be both forestalled and controlled. The following are extracts 
from certain historical memoirs, which have very recently ap¬ 
peared from the pen of Mr. Pickering, Secretary of State in 
the administration of President Adams. They are written in a 
plain,'correct, and perspicuous style ; abound in interesting 
facts, and forcible argument, and exhibit a rare felicity in the 
translation of the classical quotations introduced. 

“ The Secretary of War, McHenry, having been sent to 
Mount Vernon, with General Washington’s commission, J 


*vvas charged with the duties of his othce during his absence, 
and was with Mr. Adams when he was making a list of nomi¬ 
nations to the Senate from that which Mr. McKenry had trans¬ 
mitted from Moiin? Vernon by the mail.” 

'Fhe President proposed to give rank to Colonel Smith, 
as a brigadier, before Dayton, who had also served in the re¬ 
volutionary war; and to name the latter for adjutant-ge¬ 
neral.” 

“ Leaving the President, I went to Congress Hall, and sent 
the door-keeper to ask some of the Senators of my acquaint¬ 
ance to step out.” 

“ I informed them of the nomination of Colonel Smith, to 
be Adjutant-General, presently to be laid before them, and 
told them why I thought he ought not to be approved.” 

“ The nomination was made, and the Senate were inclined, 
at once, to give it their negative, but some of Mr. Adams’s 
particular friends, wishing to save the feelings of himself and 
his family, desired the Senate to postpone their decision till 
the next day, atid they would, in the mean time, wait on the 
President, and endeavour to prevail on him to withdraw the 
nomination ” 

“They did wait on him—but in vain; finally telling him<j 
however, that if the nomination were not withdrawn, it would 
he negatived.” 

“ ‘ I will not withdraw the nomination,’ was his answer. 

“The next morning the nomination was taken up, and ne¬ 
gatived by all the Senators, except two. 

“ Every circumstance here stated was related to me, im¬ 
mediately, by one or more of the Senators who were present. 

“ I certainly had expressed my opinion to not more than 
half a dozen Senators, all federalists; and not to one who was 
in the ‘opposition.’ 

“ I was not unaware of the hazard I ran, in speaking to 
Senators in this case; and perfectly remember remarking 
to one of them, that what I had said to him, and some 
others, would, probably, by some means, come to the Presi¬ 
dent’s ears, and cause my removal from office ; but adding— 

‘ I have done only what I thought to be my duty, and am 
willing to abide the consequences.’” 


The attention oi the individual citizen, on whose anxiety 
for the preservation of republican institutions their fate 
must, ultimately, depend, is now again asked to the promi¬ 
nent fact, exhibited in this disclosure, from so authentic a 
source. “ Jl cabinet minister adopts secret steps ; steps unknown 
tOf andf perhaps^ unsuspected by, the President, to defeat his mea^ 
sures’^ 

THE PRESIDENT BREAKS THE CABINET. 

The President did remove Colonel Pirkering from office; 
but whether the removal was occasioned by the circumstance 
on which the apprehensions of Colonel Pickering were found¬ 
ed, or by any other cause, or causes, and what these werq, 
is a subject which still remains enveloped with mystery. Dr. 
McHenry, the Secretary of War, was, nearly at the same 
time, and for causes, not now distinctly understood, also re¬ 
moved. 

President Adams makes the following remarks, relative to 
the removal of Colonel Pickering : 

“ Reasons of state are not always to be submitted to news¬ 
paper discussions. 

“ It is sufficient for me to say, that I had reasons enough, 
not only to satisfy me, but to make it my indispensable 
duty. Reasons which, upon the coolest deliberation, I still 
approve. 

“ I was not so ignorant of Mr. Pickering, his family rela¬ 
tions, his political, military, and local connexions, as not to 
be well aware of the consequences to myself. 

“ I said, at the time, to a few confidential friends, that I 
signed my own dismission when I signed his, and that he 
would rise again, but I should fall for ever. 

“His removal was one of the most deliberate, virtuous 
and disinterested actions of my life.” 

In these remarks, the mind of the individual citizen— still 
intent on discovering, and if possible, obviating, the dangers 

which threaten the accomplishment of his dearest hopes_ 

will find a confirmation of what has been before adverted to_ 

the extreme delicacy of either removing or retaining, under the 
prevailing arrangements, a cabinet minister, irresponsible as such,' 
by a President to whom he is seriously obnoxious. 


37 


Ihe pardon of Fries, the removal of the Secretaries of 
W ar and State, and some other causes connected with the 
history of the times, evoked from General Hamilton a pub¬ 
lication of very high celebrity, entitled, “ A Letter concern- 
cerning the public Conduct and Character of John Adams, 
Esquire, President of the United States.” 

TRIUMPH OF THE CABINET OVER THE PRESIDENT. 

Dr. Rush has observed, and perhaps the remark is not un¬ 
warranted by Sydenham, that when an epidemic prevails, 
minor diseases assume its type. Thus, when the election of 
a President of the United States approaches, the body politic 
assumes a peculiar temperament, and almost every transac¬ 
tion of public and private life, derives a colouring from the 
eventful contest. The publication of General Hamilton 
W’^as undoubtedly, calculated to effect the election then ap¬ 
proaching. In this conflict, the second President, entwined, 
opposed, and overruled, by the cabinet functionaries, devised 
and transmitted by the first: with geographical and political 
predilections, not a little formidable, still to encounter; and 
assailed, at the same time, by foe and by friend; after con¬ 
tending, with marvellous fortitude, for a well-earned renown, 
against the tide of evils which beset him, yielded the national 
helm to the third President. The termination of the ad¬ 
ministration of President Adams was gradually succeeded by 
the spontaneous retirement of the whole of the Cabinet. 

THE THIRD PRESIDENT. 

There exists some reason to believe, that the original con¬ 
struction of the Presidential office was not perfectly accept¬ 
able to the mind of Mr. Jefferson. When the federal Con¬ 
stitution was formed, both Mr. Adams and Mr. Jefferson were 
absent from the United States, and neither of them had a di¬ 
rect participation in its edification. To the labours of Gen¬ 
eral Hamilton, and of Mr. Madison, are we principally indebt¬ 
ed for that noble production of the human mind. It will be 
recollected, that Mr. Jay had no direct agency in digesting 
this instrument. Yet Mr. Jefferson, Mr Jay, and Mr. 
Adams, had respectively and successively, it is believed, been 
theprincipal authors of the three invaluable constitutions, that 
of Virginia, that of New-York, and that of Massachusetts. 


These three constitutions are invaluable, because they are all 
originals; they were framed independently the one of the 
other; the first sparks ofdemocracy since the days of antiquity. 
They are the productions of three of the most wise and pro¬ 
found minds to which the North-American revolution, so 
fertile of snen ami events, gave birth ; and are of course, the 
elements of which the constitutions of subsequent epochs are 
composed. The state constitutions, of the North-American 
confederacy which have been formed prior, and subsequently 
to the federal constitution, d<'serve a very critical examination. 
So do all the amendments which have been adopted, or even 
which have been proposed or suggested to the Federal Con¬ 
stitution itself. The aspect, under which they are properly to 
be considered, widens greatly w'hen the whole are regarded as 
the materials with which the human intellect has been, and is 
still to be, engaged, in France, in Spain, in Columbia, in Bra¬ 
zil, in Greece, and in other countries, whenever a temple is 
to be erected to liberty. It beho ives the statesman and pat¬ 
riot of North-Aifierica to follow, with diligence, all the 
movements of human genius, on this high subject, in all parts 
of the globe, in order that his own country may not be left be¬ 
hind, in any valuable or useful improvement ; whatever 
source or origin it may have. It will cheer him, in the com¬ 
mencement of this praise-worthy task, to find the reflection 
not less just than it is singular—that hitherto the Federal 
Constitution has not been outstripped, in a single essential 
particular. Eminently the product of good heads and good 
hearts^ it maintains a precedence alike sanctioned by merit 
and by time. The difficulties of the government of the hu¬ 
man species, still lie where they have always lain—in the 
construction and in the action of the executive power. We 
are experiencing, at this moment, a full portion of these dif¬ 
ficulties. We have made various and unsuccessful attempts 
to probe the sources, and to obviate the effects of these po¬ 
litical maladies. The other nations of mankind have given 
us, as yet, no aid; and we must still rely on indigenous 
talent, and our native resources. The defects, in the consti¬ 
tution of the North-America Executive power, are many and 
glaring; and they will be laid upon in this discussion, with no 


sparing hand. Yet, the individual citizen, taking with hin^ 
for solitary reflection, the remedies proposed, must make a 
solemn pause, before he determines on his course of action. 
Much has, unquestionably, been gained for human liberty, 
for human rights, and for human happiness ; and a few pre¬ 
cipitate and ill-advised measures might lose the whole. Yet^ 
still it will comport with the strictest propriety ; it will in¬ 
deed, be deemed to be required, by the most elevated ethics; 
that every proposition should be received, with candid atten¬ 
tion, which has for its obje< t so high a purpose as the ame¬ 
lioration of the condition ol the human species, in its most 
important of the moral relations, that of government; and 
particularly in the most difiicult branch of that relation. 
Executive government. 

SUPPOSED TO BE ADVERSE TO THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE OFFICE. 

The letter, written by Mr. Jefferson, from Europe, before 
his departure to take on him the functions of the Department 
of State, contains some cirticisms on the American Execu¬ 
tive ; but is not definite as to the supposed defects, nor does 
it propose the remedies. So far as it is predictive, it was 
prophetic. Its anticipations were all wonderfully realized, 
at the very first occurrence of a contested election ; that of 
a successor to the great American military chief. France 
suspended her course of operation with regard to America, 
in order to know the result of this election ; and the conduct 
of Great Britain was to be regulated, in a very great degree, 
by that of France. Remotely, the conduct of all Europe 
had a dependence on that of these two nations. Never was 
the election of a king of Poland so interesting to Europe, 
as this election of a President of the United States of Ame¬ 
rica. In the midst of the doubts respecting Mr. Jefferson’s 
opinions, reason will afford some clue towaids ascertaining 
the results in which they would, probably, terminate. Either 
he was in favour of a table and independent executive power, 
or preferred a government without such an executive, as the 
revolutionary Congress of America, and as, afterward, the 
National Convention of France. Arguments, which are 
deemed irrefragable, might be adduced, to prove that the lat¬ 
ter form, in the abstract, does not deserve the preference ; a 


40 


just, Steady, well-informed, and vigorous executive adminis¬ 
tration be regarded as desirable in the government of men. 
Some of these arguments must have occurred to the mind 
of Mr. Jefferson. But the predilections of Mr. Jefferson for 
a stable and independent Executive are, perhaps, conclusive¬ 
ly manifested by the Constitution of Virginia. The question 
of a sole or plural depository is the next that must arise. 
Here the opinion of America is unanimous; and there is no 
ground to believe that the sentiments of Mr. Jefferson differ, 
on this head, from those of his countrymen. The third in¬ 
quiry will, then, be on a single Executive Magistrate, with¬ 
out, or with, a constitutional council. The fourth would 
regard the relationship of the Executive Magistrate to such 
a council, if admitted. It is most probable that the impres¬ 
sions of Mr. Jefferson would lead him to the preference of a 
single Executive Magistrate, perhaps aided by a constitution¬ 
al council, for the United States of America. But the prin¬ 
ciple of relationship between the supreme magistrate and the 
council, if the latter should be admitted, it would be difficult 
to determine. If, in the ascription of the principal author¬ 
ship of the original constitution of New-York to Mr. Jay, 
an error shall have been committed, it will be corrected with 
promptitude. VV^itn the slight reservation which has been re¬ 
ferred to, the approbation of the constitution by Mr. Jeffer¬ 
son, Mr. Jay, and Mr. Adams, was, perhaps entire. 

BUT GIVES IT A FIRM PRACTICAL SUPPORT. 

The part of the philosopher, studying the good of man¬ 
kind, and employed in the investigation of those truths which 
are intimately connected with their welfare and happiness, is 
different from that of a practical statesman. While the 
former may pursue his speculations to their extreme range, 
it is the imperious duty of the latter to erect a firm purpose, 
on the basis of things, as they are. This line of distinction 
was scrupulously observed by President Jefferson. What¬ 
ever speculative opinions he may have indulged, relative to 
the form of government best adapted to the United States, 
when called to the administration,liis main consideration wae 
the correct execution of the existing constitution and laws- 


41 


Accordingly, no other change of importance was attempted, 
in the construction of the government, than one indicated by 
recent experience—that of a distinct suffrage for the Vice- 
Presidency.—This change, Mr. Pickering thinks, should be 
called an alteration merely, and not an amendment. Mr. 
Morris, of New-York, also disapproves the change; prefer¬ 
ring the original provisions of the Constitution. Mr. Jay 
takes a more enlarged and profound view of the subject. 
Governor Wolcott recommends a provision of a different 
nature. It is a question well meriting investigation; and 
some observations relative to the Vice-Presidency will, there¬ 
fore, hereafter, be submitted. 

Mr. Pickering, controverting the claims of Mr. Jefferson 
to the character of a statesman and a philosopher, thinks, at 
the same time, that philosophy has little to do with govern¬ 
ment. In this, he differs with the ancients; and, particularly, 
with one of the most celebrated consuls of Rome. Cicero 
observes, that mankind will never be well governed, until 
kings become philosophers, or philosophers become kings. 
In the accomplished and heroic ruler of Prussia, history may 
be regarded as presenting an instance of the first branch of 
the alternative ; and, as a magistrate clothed with the attri¬ 
butes of supreme executive authority, the second branch of 
the alternative may, perhaps, be considered as exemplified in 
the case of the American President. Which is most condu¬ 
cive to the happiness of mankind, it will be, by no means, 
difiicult to answer. Nor can it be doubted, that while the 
natural sciences adorn, the ethic, economic, and historic, are 
essential to the character of the statesman. 

THE CABINET SYSTEM NEARLY EXPIRES. 

With the first Cabinet, it has been seen, expired its har¬ 
mony ; and, with the administration of the second President, 
almost expired the Cabinet itself. The third President en¬ 
tered upon his administration, unfettered by the remnants of 
a Cabinet belonging to his predecessor ; and was, thus, re¬ 
lieved from an embarrassment that had severely affected Mr. 
Adams. Mr. Jefferson did not exactly adopt the constitution¬ 
al mode of requiring the opinion in writing, of the heads of 

6 


42 


departments, on matters relating to their respective depart¬ 
ments ; but so much disused or relaxed the regular and sys¬ 
tematic consultations, familiar in the practice of the first and 
second Presidents, that it was, at length, emphatically an¬ 
nounced, on the floor of the House of Representatives, by a 
distinguished and observant member, from the State of Vir¬ 
ginia, “ There is no Cabinet.^^ Certain it is, that the adminis¬ 
tration of President Jeflerson, which endured for a period of 
eight years, terminated with the same tranquillity with which 
it commenced; without any explosions or dissensions, exci¬ 
ting the attention of the nation, or creating him personal 
anxiety. Whether the benefit of enlightened, independent, 
and constitutional counsel, would have impressed on the most 
delicate and responsible measures of the third President, any 
difference of feature, is not easy to determine. 

BUT IS REVIVED AND CONTINUED. 

The administrations of the fourth and fifth Presidents have 
not been attended with the same felicitous circumstances, 
which characterized that of the third; an entire exemption 
from cabinet explosion and dissatisfactions. The departure 
from the administration of the Secretary of State, under the 
fourth President, excited, at the time, much public observa¬ 
tion. With respect to the situation of the Cabinet, at the 
present juncture, it would be indelicate to enter into detail. 
The attention of the nation is occupied with a paramount 
question ; but that important question is not, entirely, uncon¬ 
nected with a consideration of what effects the Cabinet sys¬ 
tem has, hitherto, produced in our government, and of w^hat 
effects it is likely, in future, to produce. 

EVILS OF THE CABINET SYSTEM. 

The occasion is, indeed, eminently favourable to a fair ex¬ 
amination of the evils incident to the system itself. If these 
evils are found to be serious, and of threatening aspect, an 
inquiry will naturally be directed to the remedies. Though, 
in the first instance, the remedies resorted to may not prove 
perfectly efficacious and satisfactory ; experience will render 
aid, and light will be derived from different quarters. In a 
.government constructed as ours is, the mind of the individua! 


citizen must be constantly engaged with the situation anti 
prospects of his country, and the channels by which public- 
sentiment may gradually be manifested, arc so fast multiply¬ 
ing, that the opinion of no man may be considered unimpor¬ 
tant. A detailed exposition of some of the evils attending 
the existing system, will, therefore, be undertaken. Some 
remedies will, in consequence, be suggested. In this under¬ 
taking, it is very far from the intention to exasperate, or to 
wound the feelings of any one. The remarks, which will 
be offered, are directed to the good of the country, alone; 
and are neither intended to fortify, nor to disparage the pre¬ 
tensions of any citizen, to any trust. They are free from 
any combination, pre-concert, or co-operation, with any one 
whatever; and are presented without anonymous or pseudo¬ 
nymous disguise. Originating in no spirit of intrigue, ma¬ 
levolence, or ostentation, they are the communings of one 
private citizen with another, on concerns reciprocally inter¬ 
esting to them, as members of one great and interesting family. 
Submitted, exclusively, in a spirit of candour and simplicity, 
if they do not benefit the sincere inquirer, they will not injure 
him. 


The Evils of the existing Executive Government of 
the United States. 

THE FIRST EVIL. 

DIFFICULTY IN SELECTING THE SUCCESSOR OF A FilESIDENT. 

The want of some channel, in which public sentiment may 
naturally flow, in the choice of a successor to the actual in¬ 
cumbent, may be considered as one of the defects which cna. 
racterize the course of action on the present system. 

The original Constitution, no doubt, contemplated the of¬ 
fice of the Vice-President as subserving this purpose ; but has 
experience justified the anticipation, whether under the pri¬ 
mary provisions, or the amendments, by which (hey were su¬ 
perseded ? 



44 


The entire exclusion of the Vice-President from the coim- 
cils of the President, during the whole term of the adminis¬ 
tration of the latter, was little qualified to render the former 
either intimatel)' cognizant of the plans of polic)' pursued, or 
best adapted to carry them through ; whether as the tempo¬ 
rary, or as the final successor of the President. 

Accordingly, in the very first instance of the succession of 
the Vice-President to the Presidency, an interruption of har¬ 
mony between himself and the Cabinet of his predecessor en¬ 
sued. The maintenance of harmony between the chief exe¬ 
cutive magistrate and his confidential advisers, is not only 
essential to their reciprocal well-being and success, but is also 
intimately connected with the tranquillity and the prosperity 
of the nation itself. 

In the second instance of the succession of the Vice-Presi¬ 
dent to the Presidency, so great a change in the national poli¬ 
cy occurred, as to produce a total revolution in the heads of 
departments ; and, of course, so far as it continued to subsist 
in the Cabinet Ministry. 

If the experience acquired in office be at any time valuable 
to a nation, and in the ordinary course of affairs it cannot 
well fail to be so, it is an advantage totally sacrificed on the 
occurrence of an event of this description; and it is a result 
arising not from any necessity, not from any want of skill or 
fidelity in the administrators of the several subordinate depart¬ 
ments, with respect to the concerns with which they are par¬ 
ticularly conversant, but from their adventitious qualify of 
confidential advisers of the chief executive magistrate, on the 
general policy and interests of the nation. 

After the amendments to the Constitution, requiring a dis¬ 
tinct designation of the Vice-President, two singular conse¬ 
quences followed in practice. 

The Vice-President selected was, in no instance, the person 
whom the nation wished to become, eventually, the President. 

The Secretary of State, one of the most confidential advi¬ 
sers of the President, and who was at once charged with the 
external and the internal relations of the nation, came to be 
looked to, with some degree of regularity, as the successor of 
the President. 


•16 


Thus, so far as the practice may be adopted as a priiiciplej 
the President becomes, virtually, invested with the choice of 
his own successor. 

THE SECOND EVIL. 

CONTEST OF THE HEADS OF DEPARTMENTS FOR THE SUCCESSION. 

When the pretensions of the Secretary of State to the office 
of President happen to be seriously opposed, and with any 
prospect of ultimate success, Ins prominent competitors may 
sometimes arise, out of the same Cabinet of which he is him¬ 
self a member. 

Thus, if the selection of his successor, by an existing Pre¬ 
sident, be admitted in any degree an evil, it is one which is 
enlarged and propagated by this course of action. 

It cannot well fail from this course, that the seeds of jea¬ 
lousy and dissension will be laid in an existing administration. 

Nor does the evil terminate in embittering and distracting 
the administration of the President for the time being. It is 
calculated to produce, in whatever way such a conflict might 
result, sudden, great, and unexpected revolutions, in all the 
subordinate departments of the government. 

THE THIRD EVIL. 

EXCLUSIVE OF THE PRETENSIONS OF OTHERS. 

It might sometimes happen, in such a government as that 
of the United States, that th** real preference of the nation 
should attach to some person, not one of the Heads of De¬ 
partments, all of whom are, in the first instance, the selection 
of a President. 

In such a case, the pretensions of others than Heads of De¬ 
partments, however strong they might in other respects na¬ 
turally be, may be greatly weakened in a competition with 
those who are possessed of an immediate official influence. 


46 


THE FOURTH EVIL. 


PERVERSION OF OFFICIAL PATRONAGE. 

Whether the competition for the Presidency be among the 
Heads of Departments, or between them and persons not in 
executive office, too strong a temptation is held out for such 
an exercise of official patronage as may be less adapted to 
the public service, than to promote a particular result in the 
election. 

In the endeavour to avert such an imputation, there is some 
liability to error; and, even where no real foundation for it 
exists, it is a disposition which will be too often suspected, 
and perhaps on some occasions be unjustly imputed. 

THE FIFTH EVIL. 

UNGENEROUS OPPOSITION. 

Whoever may prove the successful candidate for the Pre¬ 
sidency, on a system resembling that which at present pre¬ 
vails, one consequence may be almost foreseen. 

An opposition to his administration will be organized as 
soon as he becomes known, and perhaps even before he is 
inducted to the office. 

This oppositiion will be a tide, attending his whole term 
of service, perhaps gathering gradual strength in its course, 
and probably arriving at its height toward the close of his 
tirst administration. 

Instead of a generous support of his measures, and a cordial 
regard to the welfare of the country, the whole struggle will 
be directed to prevent, by every possible means, and at all 
events, the re-election of the same incumbent to the office. 

No rectitude of principle, no purity of conduct, no conci¬ 
liatory wisdom, can tame this opposition, or appease its ani¬ 
mosity. The more sound, correct, and unexceptionable the 
course of transaction, the greater dissatisfaction will it give. 
Blame will be bestowed by anticipation, and ih the gross ; 
and every thing will be wrong, not because objects are distort¬ 
ed, but the vision oblique ; not because the judgment is im- 


47 


paired, but the heart corrupted. Both talent and virtue trtay 
exist, but antipathy and prejudice will convert them into in¬ 
capacity and crime. Thus will a President of the United 
States tind it impossible to give satisfaction, however worthy' 
his motives, and however enlightened his councils. 

Is this a state of things honourable to republicanism ? 

Is it honourable to human nature ? 

Is it not obvious that, from the preliminary ordeal which 
every candidate has to go through, it is impossible for a cha¬ 
racter, positively bad, to attain the office of President of the 
United States ? Though one candidate may be capable of 
effecting more good than another, yet all are capable of ef¬ 
fecting some good; and one, that which another could not 
so readily have accomplished. Would not, therefore, diver¬ 
sities of attainment, and diversities of geographical relation¬ 
ship, be desirable in the administration of executive govern¬ 
ment ; and might not the principal portions of a large empire, 
and particularly one of a republican cast, enjoy their relative 
and successive claims to influence, and to magistracy, with a 
certain degree of acquiescence and content, from all parties ? 

THE SIXTH EVIL. 

tUe election of president the sport of contingency- 

The anomalous modes, in which the electors of the Presi¬ 
dent and Vice-President are chosen; open a door for intrigue ; 
and render the election too much the sport of contingency 
and chance. 

In some states, the Electors are chosen by the Legislature; 
in others by the people. 

Where the choice of the Electors is by the people, in 
some cases it is by general ticket, and in others, simply by 
districts. 

Nor, where the election is by districts, is the mode uni¬ 
form throughout. 

Whenever it is apparent by the event, that a difference in 
the result would have been produced by a difference in the 
mode of the election ; and when that difference in the result 
would have been, more agreeable to the parties affected by 


46 


such difi’erence, in the mode ; real ground of dissatisfaction 
will be presented, and opposition, otherwise unreasonable, 
rendered more excusable. 

Legislative elections are peculiarly exposed to intrigue; 
and, in elections by general ticket, while the voice of the ma¬ 
jority is rendered effective, the voice of large minorities is en¬ 
tirely sacrificed. 

Fairness, therefore, would seem to require that, whatever 
mode of election should be deemed preferable, it should be a 
uniform mode. 

THE SEVENTH EVIL. 

EVILS OF AN ELECTION BY THE HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES. 

The attempt of such an incongruous mixture, as that of the 
principal of popular suffrage, with that of state sovereignty, 
in the election of a President and Vice-President of the United 
States; however laudable the views, in which it may have 
originated; reflects, perhaps, little ultimate credit on our po¬ 
litical sagacity, and soundness of judgment. 

Reason revolts, at once, from such a political arrangement 
as assigns to one portion of the people, in a certain geogra¬ 
phical position, thirty-four times the weight of the same por¬ 
tion of the people, in a different geographical position. 

The distribution of the Union into equal and fair Congres¬ 
sional Districts, is attended with some difficulty and trouble ; 
but, when effected, after much time, preparation, and expense, 
the benefits are impaired, or lost, and the sources of contin¬ 
gency and confusion increased, by the augmentation of the 
number of the districts, by two in every state, for the elec¬ 
tion of the President and Vice-President. 

When the election of the President of the United States 
passes to the house of Representatives; and the representa¬ 
tion from every state, however unequal in its numbers, be¬ 
comes entitled to an equal and single vote; the disparity, un¬ 
fairness, and impropriety, are presented under an aspect too 
glaring to admit of defence or apology. Accident, intrigue, 
or obliquity of conduct, are permitted to have an operation! 


which might render the result very unsatisfactory to ihe peo¬ 
ple ; however disposed to order, and to peace, and to make 
every sacrifice, not absolutely inconsistent with their rights, 
for the preservation of harmony, tranquillity, and the exist¬ 
ence of their institutions. 


THE EIGHTH EVIL. 

EVILS OF SPORADIC ELECTIONS. 

It is an advantage that the day of the election of the Presi- 
sident and Vice-President should be the same throughout the 
whole United States. 

It is a disadvantage, when the day of the election of the 
Electors, is a day other than that of the general election, in 
the State. 

To leave his home, and to suspend his avocations, for the 
purpose of attending an election, is some inconvenience to the 
citizen. When this inconvenience becomes too greatly mul¬ 
tiplied, a degree of inattention, and of consequent indiffer¬ 
ence is produced. It would not be unimportant to compare 
the votes given for the Electors of President, with the votes 
given on other occasions, throughout the several states. 

Nor, perhaps, would it be other than a benefit, if a uni¬ 
form day of general election prevailed throughout the United 
States. 

The people act with more effect, when they are accus¬ 
tomed to act together; their strength is more fully brought 
out ; and their sentiments are more accurately tested. 

Considerations of climate, agricultural occupation, and ha¬ 
bits of public business, probably lead to the preference of the 
autumnal to the vernal season. W’ith reference to gene¬ 
ral leisure, and to general health, perhaps, the second 
Thursday in November might combine as much advantage 
as any other day; but time would be requisite to render any 
day, differing from that which has been usual, in particular 
parts, perfectly convenient. In many parts, also, elections 
occupy more than one day ; and some of them have refer¬ 
ence to the commencement of peculiar terms of service 


and some to peculiar local customs. When, however, a 
desire to economize time, and to concentrate opinion, pre¬ 
vails, local inconvenience is apt, gradually, to yield to ge¬ 
neral good. 


THE NINTH EVIL. 

A SECRETARYSHIP TO THE PRESIDENCY WANTED. 

it is also one of those minor evils, with which the present 
system is accompanied, that there is not an official Secretary 
to the Presidency. 

Ill the course of thirty-six years, during which the office 
has subsisted, a variety of memorials, petitions, addresses, re¬ 
monstrances, letters, papers, documents, and communications, 
some affecting public, others private, interests and history; 
some of temporary, others of permanent utility ; have been 
received, or issued. 

Incessant occupation has not permitted their arrangement, 
even for immediate use ; much less for proper care, and pre¬ 
servation. 

Accordingly, some have been chaotically deposited in dif¬ 
ferent public offices ; some are lost, some have been destroy¬ 
ed, some have perished, some been mutilated, some, perhaps, 
purloined ; confidence, with respect to some, may have been 
violated; and others, for want of a safe and confidential de¬ 
pository for them, may have reluctantly been regarded as pri¬ 
vate property, and carried away from the seat of govern¬ 
ment. 

The accommodation of the executive, and the dignity of 
the nation, require a more careful and responsible custody of 
documents of this character, than the present arrangements 
afford. 

Where is now the original draft of the declaration of Amer¬ 
ican Independence, as* reported by their Committee to Con¬ 
gress ? Is it in France, is it in Italj’, or is it in America ; or 
has it perished ? Where is the intercepted despatch of the 
citizen Fauchet ? What has become of the original report 
on the distribution of the Western Territory into State? ^ 


01 certain original letters of General Tureau, Mr. Russell, 
and Gen. Jackson? What treasures of secret history may 
not the bureau of Mr. Pickering one day afford ? What ma¬ 
terials of malevolence those of others ? How, above all, has 
the diary of General Washington, during an important pe¬ 
riod of his presidency, become also missing ? What individu¬ 
al has, in present possession, the original, and who the origi¬ 
nal draught, of the valedictory address of General Washing¬ 
ton, to the people of the United States ? 

Provisions for the reception, from the proper authority, of 
strictly executive documents ; and for the due preservation, 
disposition, and authentication, of them ; are not only in 
themselves expedient, but are also sanctioned by the practice 
of other nations. 

THE TENTH EVIL. 

THE UNJUST DISFRANCHISEMENT OF THE METROPOLIS. 

It is a deformity in the American government of no ordi¬ 
nary character, that a portion of its population exists in a 
state of permanent privation of political rights; and in a 
condition of absolute disfranchisement. 

It might, at first, be imagined, and particularly by those 
who are strangers to our history, and to the peculiarity of our 
institutions, that the portion of our population, in such a sin¬ 
gular condition, is marked by some degradation of intellect, 
by some power of resource, by some defect of patriotic feel¬ 
ing ; or, at least, by such remoteness from the seat of go¬ 
vernment, and consequent comparative obscurity, that their 
very remarkable and inconsistent situation, has been merely 
overlooked, and has entirely escaped observation. 

What will be the surprise of the .stranger when he is in¬ 
formed that the portion of our population, in this predica^ 
ment, is universally admitted to be the most intelligent, in 
proportion to its amount, of any in the United States ; and 
is, perhaps, excelled in that particular, by none in the world 
of equal amount; that it is, at the same time, a very opulent 
assemblage of mankind ; that in patriotic feeling and exertion. 


it is always in the foremost rank ; and that, so lar from being 
remote from the seat of government, it is at the very seat of 
the government itself, that the evil exists ; and that it is in 
the very bosom of this population that its (unctions are ad¬ 
ministered. 

The American citizens residing in the Territory of Colum¬ 
bia, ought not only to be admitted to a participation in the 
election of the President of the United States, but to a re¬ 
presentation in one, or in both Houses of the Legislature ; 
and to such a degree of authority, in the initiation of their 
local regulations, as, while it preserved inviolate the para¬ 
mount privilege of the General Government, might, in other 
respects, extend to them all the usual advantages of self go¬ 
vernment. 

THE ELEVENTH EVIL. 

THE CORRUPTION OF THE LEGISLATURE. 

There is no spectacle in human affairs more sublime ^ 
there is no institution with which the existence, the preser¬ 
vation, and the enjoyment of liberty stand so intimately con¬ 
nected, as that of a legislative body, free, enlightened, and 
pure. 

In the first written Constitution of the age, it was an¬ 
nounced, as an elementary principle, that the legislative, the 
executive, and the judicial powers ought to be distinct, and 
that they ought to be independent. 

Neither in that Constitution, nor in any other, have they 
been made so. In the Anglo-American Constitutions, the 
English government has been the prototype ; and, in that, 
the powers are all singularly blended. The Espan-American 
republics were not directly exposed to the same temptation ; 
and, accordingly, it might be expected that this feature would, 
in their constitutions, become less predominant. In fact, in 
the Constitution last erected— that of the Federal Republic 
of Central America, or Guatimala—a direct, a bold, and per¬ 
haps a happy attempt has been made at their total separation. 
The line is also drawn with more clearness than in the Con 


stitution of the United States of North America, between 
federal and national powers. Guided by an incomplete 
knowledge of our institutions, but directed by a reasoning 
power of which the growth has been alike astonishing, for 
its rapidity and for its vigour, Spanish America will soon be¬ 
come an object of great interest to mankind. Its constitu¬ 
tions, as well as the royal written Constitutions, which have 
been framed, and are framing in America and in Europe, 
merit more attention than can here be bestowed. 

LEGISLATOR UNDER EXECUTIVE INFLUENCE. 

Two evils might attach to the relationship between the 
legislative and the executive power. First, The legislative 
power might be under the influence of the executive power. 
Secondly, The legislative might control the executive power 
—in the exercise of its exclusive and legitimate functions. 
Too unfortunately, both these evils exist in our government* 
It would be a subject of congratulation if the misfortune 
terminated here. But it extends further. Legislative impu¬ 
rity has been evinced, in transactions, in which the executive 
was unconcerned. 

The legislative power is liable to influence from the 
executive by appointments to offices of trust, dignity, or 
emolument, during the term limited for the legislative func¬ 
tion. 

The legislators may, also, have relatives or personal friends, 
of political friends ; the gratification of whom, by executive 
promotions, may excite a gratitude of peculiar sensibility. 

LEGISLATOR ATTEMPTING TO CONTROL THE EXECUTIVE. 

They may be occasionally induced, from the prominence 
and honour of their situations, to attempt an inordinate con¬ 
trol over the executive, in official appointments. 

Next to integrity and fidelity, the consideration of most 
importance to the public, as well as to those more immedi¬ 
ately responsible for the prompt and efficient discharge of 
public duties, is the degree of personal qualification for the 
particular trust. 

Instead of this, sometimes, geographical pretension, and, 
sometimes, strength of patronage, are urged. 


The conductor of an important and extensive department 
of public service, is sometimes addressed by legislative func¬ 
tionaries, in language of the following import: 

“You have so many in employment from such a state, and 
so many from such another. We are fairly entitled to the 
preference now. You must make this appointment from our 
State.” 

On other occasions he is told, “ This candidate has the re¬ 
commendation of such a person, the interest of such another; 
he is supported b^ our whole delegation /” 

Nay', the Legislator, travelling further from the special 
purpose for which his constituent has selected him, and as¬ 
suming a bolder tone, has almost advanced a claim to the 
exclusive patronage over the district which he represents, 
and resorted to a language of which the following is, per¬ 
haps, no unfair interpretation: 

“ Sir, I am told you have lately made an appointment in 
my district, without consulting me.—How dare you, sir, med¬ 
dle with my district, without letting me know of it ? I beg, 
sir, you will not fail to give me notice of the next appoint¬ 
ment that is to be made in my district P’ 

LEGISLATIVE BARGAINING. 

Compromise and bargaining are very likely to occur 
among legislative functionaries, when they assume an agency 
or control too direct, or too intimate, with respect to the exe¬ 
cutive province of the government. Tardy improvement^ 
in their appropriate province, naturally result. The atten¬ 
tion is engrossed by the question who shall be the next Pre¬ 
sident or Vice-President, or fill such an office. 

One step farther may compromise and bargaining be 
carried among legislators—to subjects appertaining to the 
legislative province, and not relating to executive appoint¬ 
ments. 

It has been alleged, and the genius of secret history is so 
far awakening from slumber,, that the veil may soon be lifted 
which conceals the truth, that the assumption, by the general 
government, of a portion of the revolutionary debt of Mas¬ 
sachusetts, was effected by a bargain, relating to the location 


Oi) 


ol the seat ol the national government; and that that bargain 
teas reduced to writing, and, signed by the parties to it. If so, 
who has now the original document ? 

THE TWELFTH EVIL. 

EXECUTIVE INFRACTION OF THE CONSTITUTION. 

A solemn and written Constitution should be deemed so 
sacred, that even when proceedings are recommended by 
evident and obvious utility, and the want of sanction is rath¬ 
er to be ascribed to neglect than prohibition, care should be 
taken, at as early a period as practicable, to legitimate the 
deviation. 

The Constitution contains a provision that the President 
of the United States shall, at stated times, receive for his 
services a compensation, which shall neither be increased 
nor diminished during the period for which he shall have 
been elected ; and that he shall not receive, within that pe¬ 
riod, “ any other emolument from the United States, or any of 
them.^^ 

The State of Pennsylvania offered to the President of the 
United States the use of a house, built by the State, for his 
accommodation. Under this provision, the President declin¬ 
ed the acceptance of it. Yet the same President, and, after 
him, all other Presidents, have accepted and used a house 
built by the United States, for their accommodation; and, 
along with the house, have also accepted and used a partial 
supply of household furniture. 

The Republic of France offered to the minister of the 
United States of America, the use of a national house* Un¬ 
der an analogous provision, the Minister declined the accept¬ 
ance of it; and the act was specially approved by the Presi¬ 
dent of the United States. 

According to these constructions, the use of a house for 
personal accommodation is deemed an emolument. That of 
furniture must be equally so. Mere place cannot make an es¬ 
sential difference. If the use of a house be an emolument at 
Paris or at Philadelphia, it must be equally so at Washing- 


50 


toil. The mere authority, supplying the personal accommo¬ 
dation, cannot make the whole difference. If the acceptance 
of an emolument from the State of Pennsylvania, or from any 
other of the individual States be interdicted to the President, 
that of any from the United States, beyond the stated compen¬ 
sation is equally so. 

In the casuistry of the Roman government, it strikes with 
a degree of surprise the modern mind, that a question should 
arise, whether a horse could be made a consul. Extremes some¬ 
times meet or impinge. Thus it is not a little amusing, that, 
in the American government, a grave question should arise 
and be regarded in different lights by distinguished jurists, 
whether a horse could be deemed householdfurniture. 

HOUSEHOLD ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PRESIDENT UNDER THE CON¬ 
FEDERATION. 

The inveteracy of habit may, in some degree, account for 
these singularities, so far as they have a direct bearing on the 
executive government of the United States. 

In the origin of the republic, no compensation was assign¬ 
ed to its chief, distinct from his daily pay as a delegate from 
an individual State; and this varied among the different 
States. Accordingly, private fortune, as in the government of 
Venice, became an indispensable requisite for public station; 
and the private fortunes of the four first Presidents became 
much impaired by their political situations. 

This evil at length attracted the attention of Congress. On 
Wednesday, the 16th day of December, 1778, they resolved 
to reimburse their Presidents, and the representatives of such 
as were not living; and to provide a remedy for the future. 
They accordingly determined, on that day, that a convenient 
furnished dwelling house should be hired for their accommo¬ 
dation ; and that a table, carriage, and servants, should be 
provided for them ; all at the public expense. They gave 
them both a Secretary and a steward. They required a 
monthly adjustment of the household expenditures ; and, it is 
believed, at a subsequent period restricted their annual maxi¬ 
mum to nine thousand dollars. It was with difficulty that the 
expenses were kept within the limits assigned. Those of the 


last President, probably, transcended it; and pei haps those 
household expenses, have not, to this day, been definitely ad¬ 
justed. When the office of Steward expired, and Mr. Rich¬ 
ard Phillips left the seat of government, with a reputation 
perfectly unimpeached, part of the furniture, and particularly 
some of the plate procured in France, remained for public 
use. The rent of the house, its repairs, and the bill of gro-^ 
ceries, were defrayed, during the administration of General 
Washington, until February, 1790. Congress adopted the 
policy of special appropriations for the support of the house¬ 
hold, amounting to about fourteen thousand dollars for a Pre- 
sidental term ; dropping the items of table, carriage, and ser¬ 
vants ; and with that economic prodigality which occasional¬ 
ly characterizes their proceedings, prctermitting eventual ac* 
countability. ^ From this fund, it is believed, the house-rent 
was defrayed, until the arrival of the government at Washing¬ 
ton ; and after that period, when the edifice assigned to the 
personal accommodation of the President was conflagrated 
by an exploit of the British arms, than which there are many 
in history infinitely more glorious, his temporary house-rent 
was borne by the public. 

amendment of the constitution necessarv. 

At the present day, the grounds, the edifice, and the house¬ 
hold, appropriated to the use of the President, are becoming, 
perhaps, worthy the head of such a nation. Certain it is, 
that much of his establishment would be incongruous with the 
condition of a private citizen, in the present times j and there¬ 
fore, if at all provided, should be so at the public expense. 

As the legislators who make the requisite appropriations, 
and the Presidents who accept their use, are equally boiindy 
and that by oath, to support the Constitution ; as three co¬ 
incident consecutive constructions, mperunafena have been 
driven, by those who have filled the station ; and as, if those 
constructions be correct, there is a plain de]»arture from the 
letter of the Constitution ; the propriety is respectfully sub¬ 
mitted of constitutionally legitimatizing such provisions for 
the mansion and household of the President, as the nation, in 
Hs wisdom, niav judge expedient. 

8 


THE THIRTEENTFI EVIL. 


EXECUTIVE POWER TO INSTITUTE COMMISSIONS OF INVESTIGATION 
DESIRABLE. 

It will, not unfrequently, occur, in a government of such ex* 
tensive and diversified concern as that of the United States, 
that not only the President, but the conductors of numerous 
departments, will require correct information, relative both to 
things and to persons, at a distance from the seat of govern¬ 
ment. Indeed, it is a case, which may arise even at the seat 
of government, where the trust is large, momentous, or com¬ 
plicated ; and where the remedy of abuses is rather to be ex¬ 
pected from the spontaneous interposition of the executive it¬ 
self, than by the harsher, though sometimes indispensable, 
medium of legislative investigation and enactment. Inqui¬ 
ries of this description, are often attended with much loss of 
time, much expense, great personal inconvenience, no little 
obloquy, and no small degree of uncertainty in the result. 
Sometimes, indeed, malice may triumpli, and envy be grati¬ 
fied, and selfish interests subserved. 

It w^ould, therefore, be an essential improvement in the ad¬ 
ministration of executive government, if a general provision 
were made for the emanation, from proper authorities, and on 
appropriate occasions, of a commission of investigation. Dis¬ 
interested, dignified, and impartial men, should be selected for 
its execution. Generally speaking, it should be entirely free 
from expense ; but where expense is unavoidable, it should 
be restrained to its narrowest limits. 

It was once proposed to introduce into our government a 
general system of espionage ; and, singular as it may now 
appear, the officers of the Revenue Department were the 
intended organs of its operation. 

A bold, but candid use of more legitimate means of in¬ 
formation ; the employment of an instrument of investigation 
both more honourable and more efficacious ; might supersede 
secret and anonymous insinuations, affecting the honour of 
public functionaries ; at once guarding the rights of the pub¬ 
lic, and securing to the administration its confidence ; and 


alike acceptable to the legislative and to the executive de¬ 
partments. 

By neglect and inattention, abuses thrive. By prompt, 
energetic, and impartial inquiry, virtue is vindicated, puni- 
tion overtakes the guilty, and fear reaches all. 

THE FOURTEENTH EVIL. 

THE ETIQUETTE OP THE PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE REQUIRES REFORM. 

The time of the President of (he United States is precious 
to the nation. It is intimately connected with what has been 
termed the etiquette of the office. This is a subject which has 
never been seriously and fully discussed. Chief Justice Mar- ^ 
shall has made a dignified approach to it; and, in his valuable 
biography of our most illustrious citizen, has fully justified 
some of the rules and habits of President Washington. Those 
of the other Presidents have not been collated ; and are far 
from being generally known. Presidents Adams, Jefferson, 
and Madison, studiously avoided visiting other parts of the 
country than their private concerns required. President 
Washington, on one occasion, adopted a different course, with 
his usual purity and elevation of purpose ; and it was attend- 
ed with the happiest effect. President Monroe judiciously 
pursued it to a much more liberal extent. The visit of a Pre¬ 
sident first coming into office, to parts of the country with 
which he was not previously acquainted, cannot fail to be 
useful. It was intended by President Monroe to be entirely 
unattended with parade, excitement, or ceremonies ; and it 
would be well, should future Presidents imitate the example, 
if the feelings of our citizens would permit tliose to be as much 
diminished as may comport with the objects in view. Mili¬ 
tary, and naval, and militia, and scientific displays, are con- 
genial with the habits of our nation; but splendid entertain¬ 
ments and iterated addresses, are sometimes as tedious as 
they are unwelcome. 

It is an honourable feature in the etiquette of the office, 
and which has obtained with all the Presidents, that access 
has never been denied to any citizen. 

In other respects, the etiquette has considerably varied with 


liie dirterent Presidents. It is not otherwise iinpoiiaiit to the 
public than that, in the intercourse between the Chief Magis¬ 
trate and his fellow-citizens, republican habits should prevail; 
and that his time, which is the property of the nation, and of 
mankind, should not be too much encroached upon by the 
claims of fashion or of interest. In the oral, as well as in the 
written form, demands have occasionally been made, which 
are not readily reconcilable with cither principle. 

THE FIFTEENTH EVIL. 

PRESIDENTIAL CONTESTS ENDANGER THE UNION. 

The conservation of the unity and integrity of the North 
American empire, is an object which has constantly engaged 
the attention of her eminent statesmen ; it is one not regard¬ 
ed with indifference by thinking minds in other quarters of the 
globe; and it has become providentially the favourite and 
darling idea of the people. There exists no ground to appre¬ 
hend that their attachment, in this particular, is misdirected. 
If there be any single subject with which the future liberties, 
knowledge, and happiness of the whole of mankind, are es¬ 
sentially connected, it is perhaps the union and the wise ex¬ 
ample of this confederated republic. Many of the dangers 
which have heretofore threatened its union and prosperity, 
have been happily averted ; and three insurrections and five 
conspiracies, have left but a passing note for history. There 
still remains a danger, however, of which the aspect is pecu¬ 
liarly minatory ; and that is the election of the President of 
the United States. It is obvious to the least reflection, that 
serious danger to the continuance and duration of the union, 
is not likely to arise from the legislative department of the go¬ 
vernment. The first severe and alarming shock is, on the 
contrary, to be expected from some circumstance connected 
with the executive department. The reason is sufficiently 
clear. It is not the greatness of the honour; though this is 
the highest offered to man on the earth. High as is the ho¬ 
nour, it must be worn with humility ; nor is it unattended 
Yf \ih labour, with care, with delicate responsibilities, and some- 
tjimes with thorns. It is not the emolument; for this is not. 


01 


and cannot well become greatly disproportionate t© the su« 
tion. It is not altogether geographical sensibility; for, in¬ 
tense as this is, it would readily yield, it is confidently be¬ 
lieved, to some fair principle of rotation. It is, principally, 
the immense and dignijied 2^(tt^07iage thus conjided for so long 
a period to a single mind* 

When particular portions of the Union have been disap¬ 
pointed in natural and reasonable pretensions to the first ma¬ 
gistracy of the nation, for a great time, and after repeated 
trials, a latent inquiry arises, of what benefit is this union to 
us, and might zue not be as happy if we were by ourselves ? 

If, therefore, a principle could be adopted, by which the 
several great portions of the Union might not only entertain a 
reasonable prospect of enjoying, in fair rotation, the honour 
of furnishing a President of the United States, but also repose 
with tolerable security on a due attention to their claims and 
interests, during an existing administration, may not the bands 
which unite us as one people be strengthened, the agitation 
which attends the successorship be allayed, and a more cer¬ 
tain basis for that great blessing, steadiness in government, be 
presented ? 

Whether what is about to be proposed will tend to obviate 
the evil under immediate consideration, or any others, is a 
question which must be referred to the dispassionate and 
the disinterested reflection of every individual citizen. That 
it will have this tendency is sincerely believed by the under¬ 
signed 5 and its submission becomes therefore a duty. 

THE SIXTEENTH EVIL. 

THE OFFICE OF VICE-PRESIDENT REGtUIRES REFORM. 

The abrupt succession of the Vice-President to a depend¬ 
ing and unfinished term of a President, would be productive 
of peculiar ill consequences, which we have hitherto happily 
been spared from experiencing, but which cannot the less 
readily be foreseen and imagined. 

What the Senate wants is a skilful and dignified prolocutor; 
and the most direct and legitimate means of obtaining him is 
from the choice of the body itself 


JLord Karnes has admirably illustrated the tact, the taleuh 
the acquirement, and the experience, requisite for such a sta¬ 
tion ; nor are they precisely such as would best qualify their 
possessor to be a President of the United States ; and the in¬ 
ference would be equally illegitimate, that the person best 
qualified to be President of the United States would always 
possess the qualities and attainments peculiarly adapted to 
conduct with satisfaction and propriety the proceedings of 
a deliberative assembly. 

If the sentiments of Governor Wolcott are n^t misappre¬ 
hended, instead of abrogating this principle, he would impart 
to it further extension ; and would have the speaker of the 
House of Representatives designated by a process other than 
that of an election by the body over which he is to preside, 
and of course with reference to qualifications very distinct 
from those which long experience has evinced in England to 
be weighty brilliants in the character of a prolocutor of the 
House of Commons. 

The celebrated and virtuous Turgot, of France, complain¬ 
ed, in the insipiency of modern republicanism, that the insti¬ 
tutions of North America were so much modelled on those of 
England. For this he could not see adequate reason. Pre¬ 
sident y\dams has shown reason in abundance ; but there ex¬ 
ists a stronger proof of their intrinsic excellence, derived 
from quarters which at that aera could not have been antici¬ 
pated. A political party arose, opposed to Mr. Adams, but 
which adhered with strict pertinacity to English forms and 
principles of government. South America has been emanci¬ 
pated, and without any peculiar temptation to follow English 
forms, has given them almost a uniform preference. In fact, 
a trial of the principles advocated by Mr. Turgot has been 
made in his own country, and the mournful and terrible re,- 
sults still appal the pen of history. The feature, however, 
which is now alluded to, that of forcing a prolocutor on a 
deliberative assembly, has been abandoned in South America, 
and both houses of the legislature elect their respective Pre¬ 
sidents. 

There would be a manifest utility in so arranging the vica¬ 
rious execution of the Presidential functions that they might 


devolve, when occasion renders necessary, on a person, who, 
being a regular and efficient member of the administration, 
might be thoroughly acquainted with its policy, from the be¬ 
ginning, and might be likely cordially to sustain it through¬ 
out its various ramifications. 

THE SEVENTEENTH EVIL. 

INCONGRUITY OF (QUALIFICATIONS TO ADVISE. 

In the existing cabinet system, there may occur an incon¬ 
gruity of qualification to advise on the general and important 
interests and policy of the nation. 

In military and naval matters, in concerns connected with 
justice, in financial details and operations, great and peculiar 
skill, attainment, and experience, may be respectively, and 
even professionally, possessed, without their being necessari¬ 
ly accompanied by those superior and comprehensive talents, 
which control the destiny of nations, and lead them in the 
path of safety, prosperity, and renown. 

Great military and naval abilities naturally seek occasions 
for their display ; and present strong temptations to inordi¬ 
nate and profuse expense. Financial abilities, while they 
delight in accumulation, are, at the same time, favourable to 
economy and frugality in expenditure. Those to whom are 
confided the permanent and solid interests of a nation, should 
be equally remote from extremes on either side ; and while 
the citizen is not oppressed, nor industry checked by immo¬ 
derate exactions, the public welfare should advance by a 
regular and progressive march. 

AN APPROPRIATE DEPARTMENT FOR DOMESTIC CONCERNS. 

Our country has obstinately resisted the example of other 
nations, in erecting an appropriate department for interior 
and domestic concerns ; and it has suffered by its reserve in 
this particular. That parsimony is never wise which, guard¬ 
ing thousands with scrupulous vigilance, precludes the influx 
of millions to the r^ources of a nation. Our commerce 
has been marked with unrivalled success and prosperity ; but 
the attention of the nation has been superficial and transitory 


to precious manufactures, which would create, and retain at 
home, an incalculable amount of resource, enlarge our ex¬ 
porting faculties, lessen a pernicious foreign dependence, 
preserve a healthy medium of circulation, sustain the extend¬ 
ed agricultural and landed interests of our population, and 
encourage its ingenuity and its industry. 

Until this essential step towards improvement be taken, and 
while the departments of domestic atfairs and foreign rela¬ 
tions remain in a state of consolidation, the remarks which 
have been made, in reference to other departments, will not 
be reciprocally applicable. Sedulous assiduity and high ac¬ 
quirement have here been requisite ; and generally speaking, 
they have been found. Indeed, after the separation of these 
distinct branches of political administration, the remarks will 
not apply with equal force to those and to other branches of 
public service. 

THE EIGHTEENTH EVIL. 

NEGLECT OF SUBORDINATE CONCERNS. 

When all the heads of departments are embodied in a 
cabinet, there must necessarily result, to a certain degree an 
abstraction of attention from the internal concerns of their 
respective charges ; and a consequent partial dissipation of 
intellectual force. 

To qualify them, respectivel}^ for consultation that shall 
prove both wise and useful, on general interests and policy, 
requires a course of reading, information, study, reflection, 
and continued deliberation, which the pressure of affairs, in 
their several departments, will rarely, and not without essen¬ 
tial inconvenience, admit. Hasty and immature assentation 
may therefore be expected; and will not the less readily 
obtain, from their advice being without responsibility, and of 
evanescent evidence. 


THE NINETEENTH EVIL. 


IMPOSSIBILITY OP INDEPENDENT COUNSEL. 

It is an essential and radical vice, in the present cabinet 
system, that the counsel given to the chief executive magis¬ 
trate of the republic, however indispensable the imperfection 
of human nature may render candid and judicious counsel, 
and however it may tend to keep the nation satisfied, when 
they know that their President never acts without good 
advice ; is not, and from the nature of the case, cannot be 
independent counsel. 

The cabinet ministers are called to their elevated stations 
by the President, and they are retained in them by his simple 
pleasure. To expect, therefore, unwelcome and unpleasant 
advice, from men so circumstanced, is, at the very least, an 
unreasonable expectation, even if the propriety of it should 
not be deemed questionable. 

That the nation would naturally be better satisfied with an 
executive administration ; when they know, not only that its 
measures cannot be taken without counsel, but that the coun¬ 
sel is given by those who are familiarly acquainted with the 
subject, and comes from men, who, beyond general good-will, 
or incidental dissatisfaction, have nothing to fear and nothing 
to hope from the President, is a proposition requiring little 
argument. 


THE TWENTIETH EVIL. 

FATAL UNCONSTITUTIONALITY OF THE CABINET SYSTEM. 

It ought, lastly, to be a sufficient, a conclusive, and a fatal 
objection to the present cabinet system, that it is not sanc¬ 
tioned or recognised by the Constitution or by the laws. 

How the practice grew up, has, in the commencement of 
this discussion been, it is believed, truly explained. But, if 
the manuscript journals of the Senate were permitted to be 
published, something further would be known. It would 
then appear, that there vvas a time, when General Washing- 


ton, as President of the United States of America, sat per^ 
sonally in the Senate. And, if the secret history of that 
period could be evoked from the tomb, it would further ap¬ 
pear, that consequences resulted from this practice not very 
agreeable to the President, and not very agreeable to the 
Senators. 

It is imagined that the incapacity of the Senate for oral 
consultation, has, already, been satisfactorily shown. That 
a single Senator, out of the body ot which he is a member, 
should officially advise on executive measures, might inter¬ 
fere with that definitive sanction and control which the Con¬ 
stitution has wisely confided to that dignified and venerable 
tribunal. 

If the substitution of cabinet advice be the best remaining 
expedient, it will, it is presumed, be readily admitted, that it 
would be better, if it were sanctioned by the Constitution, or 
at least by law. There is not now wanting an example of 
the embodying of executive ministers, for consultative pur¬ 
poses, by a constitutional provision. A better organization, 
and one more nicely adjusted to the peculiar genius of our 
nation, may, it is conceived, be devised. But if an adhe¬ 
rence to the cabinet system should, on consideration, be 
deemed preferable, it ought, at least, to be remarked, that a 
very solemn engagement is required of all other functionaries, 
to secure fidelity, in the execution of their trust; and shall 
this, the highest function, that of being an official adviser of 
the first magistrate, be the only one without even that degree 
of responsibility ? 

THE REMEDIES ADVERTED TO. 

A further enumeration might be made, of the disadvantages 
and embarrassments connected with some of our prevailing 
arrangements ; but it might appear invidious to extend the 
catalogue. It will answer a much more grateful purpose to 
direct the attention on the remedies. Such is the liberality 
of thinking, and of action, which characterize our citizens 
at the present epoch, that any candid and dispassionate sug¬ 
gestions, calculated to fortify an edifice of liberty, reared at 
the expense of so much precious blood and tYeasure ; and to 


secure lor it the respect of the wise and good of ad couu» 
tries; and, particularly, at this happy era, of the early and 
illustrious European friend, whom the arms of the nation are 
extended to embrace ; cannot but be acceptable. 

It will not be entirely superfluous to observe that, in pro¬ 
posing a modification of the advisory functions of the execU“ 
tive, it is not in contemplation to disturb any existing preten* 
sions to confidence, or the sensibilities connected with them ; 
but to give it, if approved, an operation, on the one hand, so 
far prospective as to pass present excitement, and, on the 
other, so near as to prevent the recurrence of a part of what 
JS painful to the nation, on similar occasions. 

A review of the written Constitutions, extraneous to our 
particular country, would not be unattended with utility, and, 
with these, the future destiny of Europe is, perhaps, intimate¬ 
ly allied. The consideration of improvements in our own 
institutions, is, at once, attended with the benefit of advan¬ 
cing our internal welfare, and the honour of contributing, in¬ 
directly, to that of the rest of mankind. 

A. B. WOODWARD. 

Washington, Thursday, May 27th, 1824. 


(M the necessity and importance of a Department of 

Domestic Jffairs in the Government of the United 

States. 

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED TO THE PRESIDENT AND TO 
THE LEGISLATIVE AND EXECUTIVE AUTHORITIES. 

The natural order of the Executive Departments of a Go¬ 
vernment, is that of Revenue, Domestic Affairs, Foreign Re¬ 
lations, and War. 

Revenue is that indispensable requisite without which ci¬ 
vilized government of any kind, cannot be sustained ; and 
the primary application of revenue, is to concerns of an in- 



ternal character. Pacific are anterior to hostile relations^ 
and are those in which the other necessarily terminate. 

Almost every nation possessing a high rank in the scale of 
civilization, has instituted a Department of Internal Affairs ; 
and our own constitutes, perhaps, the only exception. 

The distinct nature and qualities of internal concerns, and 
foreign relations, must be obvious to every mind ; nor are the 
talents and attainments requisite to the correct administration 
of the one less clearly diverse from those which the other de¬ 
mands. 

Both the internal affairs and the foreign concerns of the 
United Stales of America, from the wonderful growth and in¬ 
calculable consequence of our country, have assumed a mag¬ 
nitude which renders their consolidation oppressive, and at¬ 
tended with a waste of the public resources ; and the indica¬ 
tions of public feeling are by no means equivocal, that their 
separation is alike necessary to the felicity of those to whom 
these important interests may, from time to time, be confided, 
and to the national welfare. 

I shall, therefore, proceed with a free, but I trust, no inde¬ 
licate pencil, to portray, what 1 deem the great outlines and 
features of a Department of Domestic Affairs ; regarded un¬ 
der an aspect contrasted with those which would peculiarly 
distinguish the Department of Foreign Relations. 

A classification of the various objects, which a title so com¬ 
prehensive as national concerns of an internal character would 
embrace, is a task of no small difficulty ; nor is an enumera¬ 
tion of the specific articles, to which, in every class, attention 
must be directed,likely, at any time, to be correct, in the first 
instance. In this, as in other great national movements, while 
a rapid march is requisite when the line of duty is open and 
clear, yet the lights of experience, and the radiance of genius, 
from whatever quarters they may spring, are always to be 
readily and candidly received. 

If it be admitted that, in a well-organized government, ano¬ 
malous branches of action and expenditure ought not to be 
encouraged, though occasionally allowed ; if the principle be 
rigorously adhered to, and probably a better could not be im- 


agiued, that those in every line and walk of public service 
should be subject to some certain and well-known responsi¬ 
bility and control; it will, perhaps, greatly facilitate the inquiry 
about to be entered into, to advert to what has already been 
commenced, and, in no small degree, matured, in our admi¬ 
nistration, whether, strictly speaking, out ol any department, 
or if not extrinsic altogether, at least doubtfully, when not 
inappropriately, placed 

We shall thus find that, of the grand ramifications of a 
department of domestic or internal affairs, not less than three 
branches are already in existence and successful activity. 
The post-roads, the post-offices, and the transportation of the 
mail, indicate a progress in the United States honourable to 
the country, and are the wonder of other nations. So the 
surveys and disposal of unsettled lands have been reduced to 
an exact and prosperous system. As far as it is proper that 
the executive should be concerned with the administration 
of justice its interests are protected by a high and distin¬ 
guished officer. —The national coin, if regarded as a subject 
appurtenant to this department, may also be adverted to. 

The people of the United States have thus adequate 
reason to approve of much that has been effected by those 
in their service: and have a good right to believe, that what 
remains will not be long deferred. 

The diffusion of knowledge may be justly regarded as the 
basis of republican government. Without this, ignorance, 
tyranny, superstition, and disobedience of the laws, prevail, 
and all useful institutions languish or perish. With it public 
and private morals, liberal improvements in the arts and 
sciences, industry, tranquillity, and both individual and na¬ 
tional glory, are maintained and flourish. There is no rea¬ 
son that a republican should yield to any other form of 
government in these essential particulars. It is, in fact, emi¬ 
nently calculated to transcend all others ; and both antiquity 
and modern times afford abundant proof of the position. 
What lasting renown have the Republics of ancient Greece 
conferred on their citizens ; and where are the limits to 


70 


which the American people may not, in the same sphere, 
justly aspire ? 

Much of what has been done, or attempted, in this line, in 
some foreign countries, belongs to ostentation and parade. 
In not a few instances, governments have retarded, instead 
of promoting the advancement of knowledge. I shall not 
tempt my countrymen to step beyond the line of utility and 
good sense ; but let them not admit a doubt that some exer¬ 
tions are incumbent on them, not only from a discreet regard 
for their own welfare, but also from a generous attachment 
to the interests of mankind. 

A Department of Domestic Affairs ought, therefore, with 
great propriety, to be charged with whatever relates, under 
legislative sanctions, to the advancement of the sciences, to 
the promotion of the arts, to their application and subservi¬ 
ency to the general interests of agriculture, of manufactories, 
of commerce, and of internal improvement ; and, of course, 
with all that, under a wise, prudent, and correct government, 
concerns national education and information. 

The interior organization of a Department of Domestic 
Affairs, may probably require the distribution of its concerns 
to five several branches. 

Of these, the first would be that of Science and the Arts, 
and the second, one of public economy. The remaining 
three, being already raised, will need to be specified, only 
after a clear view of the detailed duties which ought to be 
charged on the two first. 

The most important knowledge to the citizen, in a free land, 
is that oFthe laws of his own country. 

To the first branch of a Department of Domestic Affairs, 
the following are among the earliest duties to be committed : 
The custody and preservation of the originals.of the Decla¬ 
ration of Independence, of the Constitution of the United 
States, of all the Laws made under it, and of similar, and 
other domestic archives, together with the printing and dis¬ 
tribution through the nation of these documents, or such of 
them as may be required by law. 

The extreme confusion and irregularity prevailing in our 


71 


own country, and indeed in all others, except two Asiatic na¬ 
tions, on a subject that comes more home to the business of 
life than any other, have always been lamented. The subject 
alluded to comprehends measures of length, weights, measures 
of capacity, ami measures of land. 

These ought to command the early and sedulous attention 
of a branch of Science and Arts in the Department of Do¬ 
mestic Affairs. The selection of a standard of length, and 
the reduction of measures and weights to practical uniformity, 
are arduous and difficult tasks ; and require skill, patience, at¬ 
tention, time, perseverance, and minute detail, in whatever 
branch or department of the public service they should be 
undorKaken. 

Connected with this is the subject of time itself. 

The people of the United States of America, without any 
laws or enactments whatever on this subject, manifest so uni¬ 
versal and so implicit an obedience to the regulations of the 
Italian Pontiff, that the measure and distribution of time will 
at present be totally pretermitted. 

The copy-rights of authors, and the patent-rights of disco¬ 
verers and inventors, constitute an interesting item in this 
branch. By too servile an imitation of British enactments on 
these subjects, and which are essentially inapplicable to the 
state and society of our country, we have committed a double 
injury, an injury to praiseworthy individuals, and an injury 
to the public itself. It has been remarked by foreigners, and 
perhaps the truth of the remark may be admitted without any 
improper self-adulalion, that ttie Americans of the United 
States seem to possess a peculiar aptitude to inventions in the 
arts. Certainly the display of their exertions in this line is 
calculated to impress this idea, not only from the number of 
the inventions, from their variety, and from their beauty, but 
from the extreme ingenuity with which some of them have 
been devised. The artists are not rewarded in the manner 
that they merit from an enlightened and grateful country; 
and the public are infested with a domestic vexation, and with 
litigious broils, not merely disagreeable in themselves, but in 
no degree calculated to reflect honour on either side. A vista 
of great and extensive improvement, bn these heads, opens to 


72 


vrew, not only intimately connected with the fame of our 
country, but also with its manufactures and domestic com¬ 
forts, as well as its exporting interests. 

The general interests of science, of the arts, of agriculture, 
of manufactures, of commerce, particularly that of an inter¬ 
nal character, and of national instruction, have already been 
alluded to, as coming within the scope of a Domestic Depart¬ 
ment. 

It is not intended to approach any thorny or constitutional 
questions, in relation to national education and internal im¬ 
provements, in this discussion. It will be sufficient, for the 
present occasion, barely to observe that these great concerns 
demand further attention from our statesmen and patriots; 
and that on a Domestic Department must be reposed the only 
reliance for their faithful execution and administration. 

To the branch now under consideration the principal por¬ 
tion of these matters appertains; and whatever our national 
councils may, in their wisdom, see proper to do, or to attempt, 
with regard to public education and information, to observa¬ 
tories, to agricultural and polytechnic schools, to botanic gar¬ 
dens, and to laboratories, will claim its attention. 

The civilization of the Indians, hopeless as the prospect is, 
ought not to be lost sight of by our government. Its charac¬ 
ter and philanthropic tendencies require this attention; and 
the regulation of pacific Indian intercourse may soon proper¬ 
ly be severed from that province of administration, of which 
the prominent charge is that of hostile relations. 

The census of the United States is likely to become one of 
the most important statistical documents afforded in any coun¬ 
try. There are some purposes, which it is well calculated to 
subserve, that, hitherto, it has not been applied to. Whatever 
complexion it may be destined to assume, the details of its 
execution, publication, and distribution, occasionally require 
continued attention and industry. Forming a grand political 
material, in the very construction and rearing of our admira¬ 
ble frame of government, it cannot be doubted that its cor¬ 
rectness and regular completion, will be objects dear to the na- , 
tion. It constitutes one of those spheres of knowledge properly 
to be assigned to the first branch of the domestic department. 


73 


Along with it may, indeed, be consigned all the intercourse 
and correspondence between the General Government and 
the several State Governments, which go to illustrate the his¬ 
tory, and the statistics incident to each. 

All the colonial establishments within, and perhaps in the 
pacific relation without the United States, which may require 
the attention of the General Government, may be considered 
in connexion with the first branch of the Department. 

It is not improbable that more than what has been specified 
will fall within this comprehensive sphere ; but, as has been 
before remarked, the lights of experience and of genius must 
be waited for, and when presented, a cheerful admission of 
them rendered. 


10 


74 


On the Distribution of a Bureaux in the Depart- 
ment of Foreign Affairs, 

SUrPLEMENTARY TO THE DISCUSSION ON THE NECESSITY 

AND IMPORTANCE OF A DEPARTMENT OT DOMESTIC AF¬ 
FAIRS IN THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 

A slight attention to the interior organization of a Depart¬ 
ment of Foreign Affairs, will prove that language is an im¬ 
portant elementary principle in the formation of its branches, 
in addition to that of geographical association. 

The language of the United States of America, and of the 
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, is destined to 
cover a vast portion of the globe. It is a fine and noble lan¬ 
guage ; the niost copious in the world ; wonderfully simple in 
its construction, and daily advancing in its energies; and, 
could it be divested of the barbarism of its orthography, it 
might justly rank the first. 

Whatever destiny may attend the language, certain it is, 
that the circumstance of its being common to two such great 
nations, will strengthen and multiply the relations likely to 
subsist between them ; imparting inconceivable force to the 
ties previously formed by consanguinity, by religion, by man¬ 
ners, by jurisprudence, by resemblance of political institu¬ 
tions, and by an extensive and active commerce. 

To the maternal country, therefore, must be allotted, by 
her magnificent offspring, the primary Bureau in her Depart¬ 
ment of Foreign Affairs. 

The first Bureau would thus embrace the United Kingdom 
of Great Britain and Ireland, and its dependencies. 

The position of France on the Continent of Furope, the 
connexion she has had with us in our autocratic war, or our 
war for self-government^ her power, her courage, her elegant 
language and literature, and her universal refinement, com- 


biuelo render her the second object of exterior attention to 
this Republic, 

The second Bureau would therefore comprise France, the 
colonial establishments which British moderation has left to 
her in Asia, Chandernagore, Pondicherry, Mahi, Isle a Bour¬ 
bon ; that colonial establishment in America of which the in¬ 
dependence is about to be confirmed, the island of Hayti or 
St, Domingo, and countries using the French language in ge¬ 
neral. 

The discovery of the occidental hemisphere, the early set¬ 
tlement of it, the number and the magnitude of her colonics, 
their proximity to us, their current revolutions, the majesty 
and sublimity of her existing misfortunes, and an intrinsic 
grandeur of character, of which all the efforts of the Unholy 
Alliance have not yet deprived her, present to the North Ame¬ 
rican Republic, Spain,and the dominions she once swayed, in 
an affecting attitude. 

The third Bureau would comprehend Spain, including Ma¬ 
jorca, Minorca, and Yvica ; the Asiatic Philippine Islands, the 
Atlantic Spanish Islands, all the Republics of South America, 
Mexico, Guatimala, Colombia, Chili, Peru, the United Pro¬ 
vinces of La Plata; and countries using the Spanish language 
in general. 

The rise of a throne in America will be considered a curi¬ 
osity, and a moral phenomenon, attended with no ordinary in¬ 
terest ; and whether the new empire at Brazil, of so expan¬ 
sive a geography, and so numerous a population, is destined 
to be permanent, or only to present to its devoted wearer an 
ephemeral crown, is a problem yet to be answered by the 
plume of history. Her constitution is methodical, minute, of 
ample volume, and of chaste style ; and the early and respect¬ 
ful approach she has made to us, enhanced in its value by the 
learning, the talents, and the polish, of her distinguished en¬ 
voy, gives her immediate claims on our attention. The Bra¬ 
zilian empire is a very important portion of the American 
continent; and the new and splendid Brazilian constitution is 
a document, which, whatever its results may be, will have ef¬ 
fectuated no disparagement to the cause of liberty and of 
mankind. 


The Fourth Bureau in the Department of Foreign Afl’airsv 
would superintend our existing and future relations with the 
kingdom of Portugal, the empire of Brazil, Pernambuco, Goa, 
Macao, Madeira, and the insular Atlantic dominions of Por¬ 
tugal ; and, in general, all countries and places using the Por¬ 
tuguese language. 

Will the interests of civilized mankind ever encounter such 
a shock as that beneath which the Roman empire fell ? The 
progressive settlement and refinement of Russia and of the 
two Americas, relieve the anxiety of the philanthropist, and 
enable him to respond to this startling interrogatory a negative 
answer. But it is highly important to mankind that Russia 
should advance in refinement; nor can it be regarded as a 
blessing of ordinary value that her destinies are confided to 
the hands of a monarch so enlightened as he who now holds 
her sceptre. 

The Germanic tongue and the cognate languages occupy a 
vast population in the interior and North of Europe, and our 
commerce with those regions has not yet received all the at¬ 
tention it merits. 

I shall enumerate, as belonging to the fifth Bureau, all our 
concerns witli Russia, Austria, Hanover, Sweden, Denmark, 
Norway, Hamburgh, Prussia, the Dutchy of Mecklenburg Swe- 
rin, and the Russian Colonies in North America. 

In like manner I shall groupe, as the appurtenances of the 
sixth Bureau, the Netherlands, Batavia, the Moluccas, Swit¬ 
zerland, Tuscany, Upper Italy, Naples, Sardinia, and Sicily. 

The emancipation of Greece is pregnant with consequences 
dear to the human race—peculiarly dear to America. Our 
Mediterranean commerce will become highly interesting to 
us, as soon as the nations environing that sea shall have come 
to a state of repose. Our mediation between the metropolis 
of the Bosphorus and that of the Morea, might save the effu¬ 
sion of much blood. 

The seventh Bureau would consolidate whatever may ap¬ 
pertain to Greece, to Turkey, to Egypt, to Morocco, to 
Tunis, to Tripoli, to Algiers, to Africa in general, to Mahome¬ 
tan countries ip general, accessible by the Mediterranean. 


17 


rhe solid zone of civilization is ready to receive its closing 
cement from the hands of the United States of America; and 
the grand, venerable, diluvian empire of Asia, is about to be 
touched, on her oriental confine, by the naval arm of the re¬ 
public, extended from Astoria. We should be prompt to im¬ 
press deeper the favourable sentiments already bestowed on 
us in advance by the Court of Pekin, disregarding the vexa¬ 
tious scruples of a vain and silly etiquette ; and our commer¬ 
cial relations with Asia will soon deserve to be considered 
under an aspect entirely new. 

The eighth Bureau would be devoted to China, to India; 
so far as regarded separately from the first Bureau ; to Per¬ 
sia, to Arabia, and to Asia in general. 

The existing commercial greatness of North America is 
not yet well understood even in the country itself. It is a 
commerce which requires and deserves, from a masterly hand, 
an accurate comparison, not only with that of the most flour¬ 
ishing nations of antiquity, but more particularly with that of 
the greatest modern nations. The result of such an investi¬ 
gation would satisfactorily show, how eminent we already 
are; how incalculably growing are our resources ; and what 
are the means necessary to protect, and to advance our in¬ 
terests. We would, then, perceive, that if we hesitate to 
avail ourselves of the inconceivable advantages we possess, 
on account of any little expense attached to the initiatory 
and preparatory measures ; if we neglect to secure for our 
country the capacities which nature and Providence have of¬ 
fered her; if, in short, we sacrifice the permanent pre-emi¬ 
nence of the North American United States to the prosperity 
of more vigilant and spirited nations ; we shall be guilty of a 
criminal abandonment of duty, which will not escape the 
censure of history, imr be unattended with bitter self-re¬ 
proach. 

Whatever expense, therefore, is indispensably requisite for 
the developement, establishment, and prosecution of a well- 
organized and active department of Domestic Affairs, of an 
industrious and well-informed Department of Foreign Af¬ 
fairs ; and of a diplomacy, so comprehensive and extensive 


as to be commensurate only with the nations that inhabit our 
globe ; ought to be readily met and cheerfully sustained. 

Yet the genuine principles of economy are not to be 
immolated to the spirit of adventure and audacity. 

Let, then, the expense of the Bureaux attached to the 
Department of Foreign Affairs, be approached. 

I shall propose for the under Secretary, or Chief Clerk, or 
whatever other denomination may be adopted, of the British 
Bureau, an annual compensation of two thousand dollars ; of 
the French Bureau, of one thousand six hundred dollars ; of 
the Spanish Bureau, of one thousand eight hundred dollars ; 
of the Portuguese Bureau, of one thousand two hundred dol¬ 
lars ; of the Baltic and Germanic Bureau, of one thousand 
four hundred dollars ; of the Batavian and Italian Bureau, 
of one thousand dollars ; of the Ottoman Bureau, of eight 
hundred dollars ; and of the Oriental Bureau, of six hundred 
dollars ; the total, ten thousand four hundred dollars. 

But it is not fair to consider this total as clear fresh ex¬ 
pense. Of the existing expense of the Department of State, 
regarded under this aspect, fifteen thousand nine hundred 
dollars, a considerable portion attaches to the foreign relations. 

I should prefer the title of Under Secretary, or some other 
epithet, to that of Chief Clerk; because many of the Bureaux 
will require no subordinate Clerks.; because the situations 
will all exact extraordinary attainment, and high respectabili¬ 
ty ; and because it is probable that, in process of time, as 
business accumulates, and affairs are methodized, a wise, 
provident, and liberal legislature, will increase the salaries, 
from the moderate sums now proposed, to amounts adequate 
to the dignity of the stations. Let it be constantly remem¬ 
bered, that the ingatherings of the Treasury, from a correct 
administration of the public business, infinitely transcend all 
the outlayings necessary to produce that result. 

Some minds apprehend the corruption of pure republican 
attachments, from the extension of our diplomatic intercourse. 
What court is it, in the world, that presents a spectacle more 
attractive, and more imposing; better formed to invite affec¬ 
tion, or command respect; than the administration of this 


79 

fjowerl’ul, this beautiful Republic ? Exists there an instance 
of a citizen lost to her, by the meretricious charms of any 
foreign country ? 

May not the actual exhibition of the living man, and the 
experience of his virtues, his talents, and his accomplish¬ 
ments, gain, from foreign nations, the love of North America, 
and the love of Republicanism ? 

A. B. WOODWARD, 

Washington, *^pril 22 , 1824. 



» i 


SI • 


APPENDIX. 

To the Discussions on the necessity and importance of a Depart¬ 
ment of Domestic Affairs in the government of the United 
States, and on the distribution of the Bureaux in the Depart¬ 
ment of Foreign Affairs, being forms of enactments caicuiated 
to bring out results resembling those contemplated in tiie Dis¬ 
cussion. 


TITLE. 

Jin Jlct to divide the Department of State into two separate and 
• distinct Departments^ to be denominated, respectively, the De¬ 
partment of Domestic Affairs, and the Department of Foreign 
J1 fairs; and for other purposes, 

FORMS OF ENACTMENTS. 

Be it enacted, <^c. That the Department of State shall be 
divided into two separate and distinct Departments, of which 
the first shall be denominated the Department of Domestic 
Affairs, and the second shall be denominated the Department 
of Foreign Affairs. 

Sec. 2. ^nd be it enacted, That there be, in the Department 
of Domestic Affairs, the following officers : First, a Secre¬ 
tary ; second, a Commissioner of Science and Arts ; third, a 
Commissioner of Public Economy ; fourth, a Commissioner 
of Posts ; fifth, a Commissioner of Public Lands ; sixth, a 
Commissioner of the Mint; seventh, a Commissioner of Pa¬ 
tents ; eighth, a Commissioner of Indian Affairs ; and ninth, 
a Commissioner of Justice. 

Sec. 3. And be it enacted. That there shall be in the ^De¬ 
partment of Foreign Affairs, the following officers, viz : First, 
a Secretary ; second, an Under Secretary of British Affairs ; 
third, an Under Secretary of French Affairs; fourth, an 
Under Secretary of Spanish Affairs ; fifth, an Under Secre¬ 
tary of Portuguese Affairs ; sixth, an uiMer Secretary of Bal¬ 
tic and Germanic Affairs, seventh, an under Secretary of 
Belgic and Italic Affairs ; eighth, an under Secretary of Ot ■ 

11 


8 ^ 


toman Affairs ; aiul, ninth, an Under Secretary of Oriental 
Affairs. 

Sec. 4. Jind be it enacted^ That the Secretary of the De¬ 
partment of Domestic Affairs, and the Secretary of the De¬ 
partment of Foreign Affairs, shall execute such duties as may, 
from time to time be charged upon them by law, or, not be¬ 
ing contrary to law, by the President of the United States ; 
and the several officers in the Said Departments shall execute 
such duties as may, from time to time be charged upon them 
by law, or, not being contrary to law, by the Secretary of the 
respective Department. 

Sec. 5. Jhid be it enacted^ That the following shall be the 
sallaries of the several officers in the Departments of Domes¬ 
tic and Foreign Affairs, the whole payable quarterly at the 
Treasury of the United States : of the Secretary of the De¬ 
partment of Domestic Affairs, six thousand dollars ; of the 
Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs, six thousand 
dollars ; of the Commissioner of Science and Arts, four thou¬ 
sand dollars ; of the Commissioner of Public Economy, four 
thousand dollars; of the Commissioner of Posts, four thou¬ 
sand dollars; of the Commissioner of Public Lands, three 
thousand dollars; of the Comrnisioner of the Mint, “two 
thousand five hundred dollars ; of the Commissioner of Pa¬ 
tents, two thousand dollars ; of the Commissioner of Indian 
Affairs, two thousand dollars ; of the Commissioner of Justice, 
four thousand dollars ; of the Under Secretary of British Af¬ 
fairs, two thousand five hundred dollars ; of the Under Secre¬ 
tary of French Affairs, two thousand dollars ; of the Under 
Secretary of Spanish Affairs, two thousand two hundred and 
fifty dollars ; of the Under Secretary of Portuguese Affairs, 
one thousand five hundred dollars ; of the Undersecretary of 
Baltic and Germanic Affairs, one thousand seven hundred 
and fifty dollars; of the Under secretary of Belgic and Italic 
Affairs, one thousand two hundred and fifty dollars; of the 
Under Secretary of Ottoman Affairs, one thousand dollars ; 
and of the Under Secretary of Oriental Affairs, eight hundred 
dollars. 

S . .6. t^nd be it enacted, That, as soon as conveniently 


83 


may be, the Mint shall be transferred to the seat of the Go¬ 
vernment of the United States. 

Sec. 7. Jlnd be it enacted, That, as soon as conveniently 
may be, the Office of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs shall 
be established at the seat of the government of the United 
States. 

Sec. 8 . ^nd be it enacted. That, as soon as conveniently 
may be, after the establishment of the mint at the seat of the 
•Government of the United States, an improved coinage shall 
be made, of one hundred millions of half-cents, ten millions 
of half-dismes, one million of half-dollars, and one hundred 
thousand half-eagles. 

Sec. 9. Jlnd he it enacted. That all acts, and parts of acts, 
coming within the provisions of this act be repealed. 

Sec. 10. Jlnd be it enacted. That this act shall take effect 
from and after the first day of January next. 



INDEX 


Page 

Adams.6, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 34 

35, 36, 40, 41, 59, Cl 

Administration dissolved.. 16 

Adversion to remedies. 66 

Affairs, Domestic, Department of 63 
Amendment of the Constitution ne¬ 
cessary. 57 

America.6, 24, 25, 27, 09, 50 

American diplomacy, vigor of.... 25 

American Statesmen. 25 

Anti-Federalists... 7 

Antiquity. 14 

Arrogance of foreign ministers.. 18 

Attorney-General. 9 

Assumption.10, 54 

Bank. . .10 

Bargaining, Legislative. 54 

Bart, Jean. 21 

Le Blanc. 19 

Bradford.16, 21 

Brazil. 38 

Britain.5, 14 

Britannic King, his extraordinary 

confessions. 31 

British Government.10, 52 

British Treaty. 27 

Burr. 7 

Cabinet.9, 10, 16, 19, 22 

23, 26, 29, 30, 34 
Cabinet endeavour to force the 

President into a war.34 

Cabinet history. 24 

Cabinet system.9,22, 65 

Cabinet system nearly expires-41 

Cabinet system revived and con¬ 
tinued. 42 

Cabinet system, specification of 

the evils of. 42 

Cabinet system, unconstitutionali¬ 
ty of. 65 

Case of Fries. 30 

Case of the Earl of Strafford con¬ 
trasted with that of Fries.. .30, 31 

Charles I. 30 

Cicero. 41 

Clinton. 7 

Colombia....... 38 


Page 

Columbia. 56 

Commerce. 18 

Commissions of Investigation... 58 

Commons. 61 

Concerns, subordinate, neglect of 64 

Confederation.6, 7, 39, 56 

Confessions, extraordinary, of the 

Britannic King. 31 

Constitution, amendment of, ne¬ 
cessary. 57 

Constitution, executive infraction 

of. 65 

Constitution, the first written.... 14 
Construction of the office suppos¬ 
ed to be disapproved by the Pre¬ 
sident.39 

Consul. 55 

Contests of the Presidency endan¬ 
ger the Union....60 

Contests of heads of departments 
for the succession to the Presi¬ 
dency. 44 

Contrast of the cases of Fries and 

the Earl of Strafford.30, 31 

Convention National.25, 26, 39 

Cornwallis. 6 

Corruption of the Legislature.... 52 

Council.39, 41 

Counsel, independent, impossible 65 

Dayton. 35 

Declaration of Independence.... 14 

27, 50 

Definition of intrigue. 13 

Democratic party . 11 

Departments, heads of, contest 
of, for the succession to the Pre¬ 
sidency.44 

Department of Domestic Affairs 63 
Difficulty in selecting the succes¬ 
sor of a President.43 

Disfranchisement, unjust, of the 

Metropolis. 51 

Dissensions arise from moral im¬ 
propriety. 13 

Dissensions in the Cabinet.. .10, 12 
13, 15, 42 

Duer...6, 7 



























































l*age 

tilectioh of President the sport of 

Contingency... 47 

Elections.16, 17, 2S, 47, 48, 49 

51 

Elections, sporadic, evils of.49 

England.. 61 

English liberty. 14 

Espionage. 58 

Etiquette... 59 

Eurone... .17, 23, 24, 25, 27, 39, 52 

66 


Evils of election of the President 
by the House of Representa¬ 


tives. 43 

Evils of sporadic elections.49 

Evils of the Cabinet system. 30 


37, 42 


Exclusion of others than heads of 
departments from pretensions 


to the Presidency. 45 

Executive, control over, by legis¬ 
lator.. 53 

Executive influence on legislator 53 
Executive infraction of the Con¬ 
stitution . 55 

Extraordinary confessions of the 

Britannic King. 31 

Fatal unconstitutionality of the ca¬ 
binet system. 65 

Father of modern Republicanism 14 

Fauchet...... 19 

Fayette. 66 

Federal administration. 7 

Federal Constitution...37 

Federal government. 11 

Federajist. 6 

Federalists.7, 11 

Firm practical support of the 

Presidential office. 40 

First President. 5 

First written Constitution... ..14, 52 

Fisheries. 14 

Foreign Ministers.16, 17 

Frederic the Great...40 

France.5, 6, 14, 24, 25, 26, 37 

39, 50, 56, 61 

French flag. ••••••; . H 

French people, giddiness of.26 

French republic.11, 55 

French revolution....._.11, 61 

Garrison. 17 

Gazettes. 17 

Genet.14, 18 

Genius.7, 24, 37 

Gerry.6, 30 

Giddiness of the French people.. 26 

Governors.16, 17 

Great Britain.. ,27, 20, 39 

Greece.. 37 


Page 

Gregorian Calendar. 19 

Grenville.......21, 22 

Griffin... 6, 8, 56 

Guatimala .. 52 

Hamilton....6, 7, 10, 15, 19, 28, 30 

36, 37 

Hammond.14,21, 22 

Harmony. 8 

Heads of Departments, contests of, 
for the succession to the Presi¬ 
dency. 44 

Heads of Departments, exclusive 
pretensions of, to the Presiden¬ 
cy. 45 

Holland.22, 27 

Household establishment of the 

President.56, 57 

House of Commons. 61 

House of Representatives, evils of 
an election of President by.... 48 

Icon Basilica. 30 

Illusions of Foreign Ministers.... 16 

17 


Impossibility of independent coun¬ 
sel. 65 

Inaugural address. 14 

Incongruity of qualifications to ad¬ 
vise. ' ... 63 

Independent counsel impossible.. 65 

Independence, declaration of.14 

27, 50 

Individual citizen accosted.5, 8 

22, 23, 34, 36, 37, 42, 60, 66 
Influence, executive, on Legisla¬ 


tor. 53 

Infraction of the Constitution.... 55 

Intercepted despatches. 21 

Interior, department of the. 63 

Intrigue defined. 13 

Investigation, commissions of.... 58 

Italy. 50 

Jackson. 50 

Jay.6, 7, 28, 37, 39, 40 

Jean Bart. 21 

Jefferson.6, 7, 14, 15, 25, 27, 28 

37, 39, 40, 59 

Karnes. 61 

King of Prussia... 40 

Knox.6, 7, 16 


King of France, execution of the 11 

La Fayette. 66 

Lee. 6 

Legislative bargaining... 54 

Legislator attempting to control 

the executive. 53 

Le Blanc. 19 

Legislator under executive influ¬ 
ence . 53 


















































































87 


Page 

Legislature, corruption of. 52 

Legislatures.17 

Liberty of the Press.16, 28 

Lightning. 24 

Livingston. 6 I 

London .21* I 

Lord Grenville.21, 22 } 

Lord Karnes. 61 

I.ord Strafford.30, 31 | 

Madison. 6,10,37,42,^56 

Manufactures... 63 

Marshall. 69 

Maryland. 24 

Massachusetts. 27 

Me Henry. 24 

Measures and Weights. 14 

Megalonyx. 14 

Metropolis unjustly disfranchised 51 

Military Academy. 17 

Ministers, foreign..... .6,16, 17, 18 
Minister of foreign relations.. .6, 19 
Modern republicanism, father of 14 

Monroe.16, 24, 25, 26, 42 

55, 59 

Moral source of dissensions. 13 

Morris. 40 

Mount Vernon.5, 34 

National Bank.'. 10 

National Convention.24, 25, 39 

Near expiration of the Cabinet 

system. 41 

Necessity of amendment to the 

Constitution. 57 

Neglect of subordinate concerns 64 

Nevr cabinet. 16, 24 

New-York.5, 6, 37, 39, 40 

Next election. 16 

North America.5, 37, 52, 60, 61 

Nourse.6, 7 

Neutrals. 26 

Occasional arrogance of Foreign 

Ministers....18, 21 

Opposition, unreasonable, to an 

administration. 46 

Official patronage, perversion of.. 45 

Osgood. 6 

Paris.21,24,25, 55 

Parties.10, 19, 28 

Parties embittered. 13 

Patronage, official, perversion of 45 

Pennsylvania, Governor of. 19 

Pennsylvania insurrections. 19 

29, 30 

Pennsylvania. 55 

People, French, giddiness of,.... 26 
Perversion of official patronage... 53 

Philadelphia.17, 19, 21, 55 

Philips. 65 

Philosopher.24, 40 


Pae^ 


Pickering.16, 21, 22, 24, 26, 30 

34, 36, 40, 50 

Poland. 39 

Posts. 17 

Practical statesman...40 

Practical support of the presiden¬ 
tial functions. 40 

Presidency. 9 

President, passim. 9 

President breaks the cabinet. 36 

President, difficult to select his 

successor. 43 

President endeavoured to be forc¬ 
ed into a war by the cabinet.. 34 

President, fifth. 42 

President, first.5, 13 

President, fourth. 42 

Presidential contests endanger the 

Union. 60 

Presidential etiquette. 59 

Presidential office, functions of, 

practically supported.40 

President, second. 28 

President supposed adverse to the 

construction of the office.39 

President, third. 37 

President, victim of the cabinet.. 37 
Pretensions of others than Heads 
of Departments to the Presi¬ 
dency excluded. 45 

Prime Minister. 7 

Prussia.46 

Randolph.7,16,18, 19, 21 

Reform in the election of presi- 


Reform of the Vice-Presidency re¬ 
quisite. 61 

Reform requisite in Presidential 

etiquette. 59 

Regal image. 30 

Remedies adverted to. 66 

Representatives, House of, evils of 

election of President by.48 

Republicanism, modern, father of 14 

Republican party. 11 

Revival and continuance of the 

cabinet system. 42 

Rights of British America. 14 

Robespierre. 25 

Roman Government. 55 

Rome. 40 

Rush. 37 

Russell. 50 

Seat of Government..10, 17, 19 

21, 51, 54, 55, 56 

Second President. 28 

Secrecy the test of intrigue...... 13 

Secretary of State looked to as 
successor of the President. .43, 44 

























































































88 


Page 


Secretaryship to the Presulency 

wanted. 50 

Selection of successor of a Presi¬ 
dent difficult. 43 

Senate. ..8, 16, 17, 34, 49, 51, 61, 65 

Seventy-four. 17 

Sir William Temple. 22 

Smith. 34 

South America...24, 61 

Spain. 37 

Spanish America,... .*. 52 

Sporadic elections, evils of.49 

Statesman. 40 

Statesmen, American........ 25, 60 

Steam navigation. 24 

Subordinate concerns, neglect of 64 
Succession to the presidency.... 12 

Successor of a President difficult 

to select. 43 

Sydenham. 37 

Taylor. 20 

Temple. 23 

Third president. .^.. 37 

Thomson.'.. 6 

Transactions of Mr. Monroe in 

France. 24 

Treaty with Great Britain.27 

Triumph of the Cabinet over the 

President. 37 

Tureau. 51 

Turgot. 62 

Unconstitutionality of the Cabinet 
system9, 22,29,30 34, 35,36,37, 65 


Page 

Unconstitutionality of the Tiouse- 


hold establishment.5 5 

Ungenerous opposition.47 

Union endangered by Presidential 

I contests. 60 

' Unjust disfranchisement of the 

’ Metropolis. 51 

: Unreasonable opposition.46 

I Valedictory of Washington. 51 

I Venice... • • 56 


1 President..... .6, 9, 27, 28, 40 
! 43, 47, 48, 49, 54, 61 

I Vigour of American diplomacy... 25 

! Vindication of Mr. Monroe.27 

i Vindication of Mr. Randolph.... 21 

; Virginia.23, 28, 37, 39, 41 

Virginians. 26 

War endeavoured to be forced on 
the President by the cabinet.. 34 

Washington.5, 6, 7, 0 10, 11, 15 

20, 21, 22, 23, 20, 27, 28, 50, 56 
59, 65. 

Washington City.17, 19, 20, 54 

55, 56 

Washington City, unjust disfran¬ 
chisement of. 51 

Weights and Measures. 15 

Western Territory.27, 60 

I Wolcott.16, 20, 22, 40, 62 

I Written Constitution, the first.... 24 


52 

Written royal Constitutions merit 
attention.52 














































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